


The Cursed G

by FuwaFuwaMedb



Category: Fate/EXTRA, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: AU Situation, F/M, non Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:02:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26795566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuwaFuwaMedb/pseuds/FuwaFuwaMedb
Summary: Life is simple: education, work, friends.Hakuno hadn't expected much more than that, but then she'd stumbled across a fluffy golden cat in need of a home. Never one to turn away from a spirit in need, she brought the cat into her home... and brought along all the chaos that could come from bringing home a cursed king from a time long passed.
Relationships: Cú Chulainn | Lancer/Tohsaka Rin, Gilgamesh | Archer & Kishinami Hakuno, Gilgamesh | Archer/Kishinami Hakuno
Comments: 22
Kudos: 185





	1. A Golden Asshole Breaks In

“Why don’t you just come over to my house?” Hakuno leaned over the bed a little, scratching at her cat’s chin as she listened to Emiya on the other end of the line.

“You truly wish for me to answer that?”

She didn’t.

A small smirk came to her face though at the memories of what had happened the last few times that Emiya had decided to come over to her home. The man had found himself seated on the other end of the couch, trapped there as her beloved golden cat glared at him.

Any time that he had grown closer to her, her cat would lunge forth, spitting and hissing.

At the time, she’d been adamant on getting after the cat, but then…

The condoms in Emiya’s bag had been a clear indication that their friends only study night was intended to become something more. She’d glanced over at her cat and hummed.

“Do you want me to move him?” Her white haired friend asked. “I can lock him-“

“Do you think he looks a bit pale?”

“Pale?”

The man stared at her.

“Yeah, I don’t think he looks too good.” Hakuno moved over to where the cat was licking himself, plucking her stubborn cat up and holding him close. “I think I may need to cancel our studying for now and take care of him.”

“Hakuno, I don’t think he’s that bad.”

“I should go get him some more wet food as well.”

The man shook his head, heading over to the door and pulling his shoes up.

If cats could have snickered, it would have been hers upon seeing the pee running out of the shoe. Emiya’s eyes had gone straight to her fluffy golden cat, expression darkening.

“…You know cats are eaten in some countries.”

“Goodnight, Emiya,” she had told him then and there.

His bag had been set in his hands. His shoes had been wiped off a bit after being run under the facet and he had been sent out into the night.

_“I’m not coming to your house when you have that fleabag of yours out.”_

“I thought you liked my cat.”

_“He peed in my shoes and harasses me if I get close to you.”_

That he did.

Hakuno scratched at the cat’s chin, watching those red eyes simply gleam at her. The rattle was going strong today. No doubt, he was pleased with her indulging him yet again with the fancier cat food. A snazzy collar, a bath and grooming time, and the finest of cat cuisine had the golden fluffball in a pleasant mood.

“Alright,” Hakuno told him. “Why don’t I send you my notes and you can let me know if I missed anything.”

The man grunted.

Hakuno hung up only to stroke the cat’s ears a bit more.

“You made him really mad this time, G.”

Gorgeous or G, as he liked to be called, didn’t give a single shit about that, but… he really took time to get used to others. Hell, when she’d found him, he’d been being attacked by some dogs in a back alley. She’d barely gotten him away from the bunch. The rain had been pouring and the cat had been injured so badly. He hadn't been the golden bundle that zoomed around her home now. He'd just been a tangled and spitting mess, blinded by his own blood.

The vet had shaved him too, turning him from the matted mess to a shivering skeleton of a cat.

The guilt of seeing him curl up under her covers and growl had been enough that she’d decided to spoil the cat.

She’d gotten him one of those overpriced collars with a chip in it and a selection of the nicest food she could find for him. The only small dishes she had had available were glass bowls and a couple small plates.

He seemed to prefer that over the plastic bowl she’d bought after her following paycheck.

Actually, he seemed quite fond of anything pompous and flamboyant.

The moment she had been blowdrying her hair and had laughed at the slowly returning puff of golden hair to the cat’s person, opting to tease him by brushing him a little and using the blowdryer on him, was the moment that G had come to realize he really liked being brushed and blowdried.

He climbed in her bath about a week after she had saved him.

And now?

Now he was a regular participant in her baths and showers.

They got ready for the day together. They ate together. He demanded his attentions from her. Then, she would return home to find him lying near the door.

Not watching too closely, but she would note that he seemed pissy if she was late.

Her oddball Gorgeous "G" was funny that way.

“I do mean it, G," Hakuno continued, ruffling at his fur. "He’s probably never coming back after you peed in his shoes.”

Her thoughts were lost the moment the cat licked her nose.

He never gave kisses.

Bites? Sure.

Scratches? Of course.

Never kisses.

Hakuno stared at the cat a moment before she found herself biting her lip. She cuddled him against her and headed for her living room to study.

G found his spot between her legs, poking his head up from under her laptop.

She kept his favorite blanket over herself so he could stay warm.

Studying turned into their favorite crime drama on television, leaving Hakuno to laugh whenever G would hiss at someone he didn’t like on screen.

He moved up to her chest as she laid down.

Hakuno found herself leaning her head against him and kissing his puffy coat.

“Shame you can’t teach me anything about Sumerians,” Hakuno told the cat, scratching at his chin lightly. “You could help me with my journal article.”

She should have chosen a different concentration rather than ancient civilizations.

Such a shame.

She could have been a vet, she thought vaguely, falling asleep.

The dreams that came to her mind from there were a jumble. Nothing worthwhile, nothing solid of which she would remember later. She could feel a heavier weight on top of her. She could hear the television, playing an episode of her show that was no doubt far ahead of where she had been at.

A pair of lips pressed against her own, stealing her fatigue away as she woke up.

Her eyes met red.

Still catlike, but-

_NOT A CAT! NOT A CAT!_

Hakuno grabbed the nearest object and slammed it at the man. She would no doubt regret that for her laptop later, but right now was about safety. Safety and getting the hell out of this place. The man was still on her sofa. She was pressed up against her far wall, looking around the room and finding her naked intruder alone.

She’d gone the wrong direction, but the man was recovering from the blow. She had time to run.

Not wasting a moment, she booked it.

Her ankles were grabbed as the man lunged from the couch. Every inch of that sunkissed, muscle-adorned body was almost immediately over hers once again, pulling her under him and trapping her into place. 

“GET OFF ME!”

“Oh, but why would I do that?” The man seemed to purr. “A man should properly thank his savior, after all. A life for a life seems suitable.”

A life for a life?

_I need my phone or the door._

Where was G?

“I’ll have you know, I have a feral pet that will kick your ass the moment he sees you.” Hakuno warned the man, bluffingly grinning at him. "It's him or my husband when he gets back."

She had to get away from this guy. Better to try lying than suffer.


	2. A King Down the Rabbit Hole

“Gilgamesh!”

He was walking along the sunlit corridor of the palace, sensing the woman behind him. With each moment that he found to himself, the woman was two steps behind him. She dogged him, leaping upon him when he would take a moment to enjoy the sunlight.

Enkidu had warned him that there would be trouble with this woman not getting him. They had expressed concerns that the gods would kill them.

Foolish concerns, he had merely put forth the idea that he and the being were connected in lifespan. He had forced Enki himself to claim that was the case, tricking the other gods into pausing from getting Ishtar’s revenge against his insults to her.

So the tango continued.

Ishtar lunged upon him when he was in bed with his maidens.

She crawled onto his lap when he fell asleep up on the roof of the ziggurat.

When he would partake in his drinks, he would find a pretty view. But that view would be ruined as, lo and behold, the goddess would dance herself into his view.

“Gilgamesh!”

She rushed at him, blocking his path.

“Out of my way, useless,” he growled.

“No.”

He crossed his arms, eyeing her carefully.

There were only so many things he could do to this woman before he would be in danger from the gods. His mother had warned him of that. Sparing Enkidu’s life had been a risk that had almost been too great.

_It’d been worth it._

“If you do not accept me, then I will be forced to respond.”

Respond?

“What can you do?” Gilgamesh taunted, leaning in close and watching the woman’s face pause. Her eyes dropped to his lips. Her hands pressed together, being held like she were cradling something of worth.

“…You could try,” she offered softly. “You speak of me ruining people, but you have done no better with the women here in this kingdom. You and I have done so much of the same thing, my king…”

Those red eyes looked up at him.

“How many women weep at the memory of you leaving them? How many women can no longer love their husbands and their children, knowing that you took their pleasure for your own and continue to cherish it without them?”

Spoken like a true romantic.

“You’re a beast, Gilgamesh. You’re everything that one would want from a warrior king, but no woman will love you as I can.”

Love.

He could have laughed at the mere words.

What could a woman like this know of love?

She cherished nothing, casting all to the whims that came to her heart. It didn’t matter if they were her blood or hers through care and nurturing; she would throw away the world so long as she landed on her feet.

She dared to speak of him about love when she could no more understand it than she could understand the value of true fighting.

“Get out of my way, woman.”

He shoved her aside, pushing the doors to his audience chamber open.

“KING!”

Ishtar’s voice rang out through the audience chamber. Drawing the attention of the people within the room.

“I am forbidden from killing your pet, but the gods only wanted me to ensure that someone of your lifespan was living in this time.”

Gilgamesh glanced back, noting the woman’s smile.

“So long as one of you is here, you don’t need the other.”

What did she mean-

The movement was so fast that he could barely see her for a moment. Her hand went to his chest, his body falling forth…

Further and further he fell, his body seeming to merely fall apart on him as the goddess laughed.

“You will be unable to return to your beloved Uruk. We shall see if your decision to keep the clay being alive was worth it when you have nothing left.”

His body hit darkness, the rain pouring down on him hard as sounds invaded his senses.

Ishtar’s voice continued a moment.

“For the sake of Uruk, I will remove the king that so many of the people despise for ruining their women. I will cast you into a position that, without love, you will simply die.”

The sounds of hounds could be heard nearby.

“Goodbye, gorgeous,” Ishtar purred. “You would have been a lovely addition to my bed.”

He opened his eyes, blinking back the rain only to try to wipe at his face.

Hair got in his way.

The hand he had used, it was no better than a beast’s paw.

He looked around, standing only to find himself on all fours. The hounds he had heard were close now, looking his direction and growling loudly.

Fighting one-

But another two appeared. Their gums pulled back only for sets of teeth to show. Drool cascaded forth, the beasts looming closer and closer.

He had to retreat.

He rushed away from them, around the mountains only to pause.

He was in a kingdom somewhere…

A kingdom of lights and darkness. It was like the people of this place had taken the very mountains and smoothed them like the blades in a smithy’s workshop. He could see his reflection, the image of the fluffy golden feline making him growl.

Ishtar.

The woman would pay for this.

It had no doubt been a gifted talent from another god.

He would convene upon his return with the temple maidens and get through the mess of this.

In the meantime-

Gilgamesh ran as fast as he could. He tried for the lower lands with their yellow and white lines, but beasts lunged from the depths of the rain, screaming sounds of unholiness into his ears. He could see one nearly hit him, see it flatten a smaller beast before his eyes.

Never had he seen a beast flattened to that of a dinnerplate.

His blood drew cold.

The hounds behind him persisted.

He ran and ran, turning another corner and running around black bushes that smelled of foul foods and scum. He found himself leaning back further and further, his heart racing more and more.

Death.

Ereshkigal herself must have called forth these beasts for the damned. They cornered him, lunging forth. His hair was flying, alone.

The claws in his paws did nothing.

The beasts were accustomed to a little pain.

His golden mane, however it worked, was falling here and there. He could see rivers of blood flow forth from his body.

Ishtar, he prayed.

_Ishtar!_

She had called him gorgeous. He had said it was a shame.

They could speak.

Perhaps…

A sound ripped through the air.

Someone was yelling forth from the distance.

He looked up, feeling the rain let up.

“What the hell?! BAD DOGS! FUCK OFF!”

The maiden blew at the white object in her hands again, sending the dogs running for the distance.

Hands wrapped around his body, lifting him up and holding him close to a warm chest. Something made a strange sound, like a gentle zzzzzip.

He closed his eyes as that voice that had cast away the beasts murmured to him.

So melodious…

So warm and loving.

He closed his eyes, letting his heart race as it pleased. The hair he had all over him was falling into his eyes once more.

This mystery maiden, with her rain stopping object and her warm clothing, carried him through the madness. She navigated him through the various rivers of speeding beasts and mountainous houses.

He lost himself to it all, finding his senses blurring.

He opened his eyes at times, but he no longer could make sense of the madness.

A strange painting moved on a table, showing someone sitting in a seat in the corner as various things happened on the canvas. The place where he had been placed was far more plush than his own throne. It was smooth looking and the blankets were far thinner than he was accustomed to.

She layered them for him.

“He’s bleeding out,” the woman spoke to a small object in her hands. “I wrapped the wounds, but his hair is getting matted. I don’t know anything about cats, ma’am.”

She nodded, picking him up before he found his eyes closing.

When he opened them, he found himself in a white room.

The man that stood before him stood in all black, holding up a pen like a blade and motioning at his body.

“I could neuter him for you as well.”

_Neuter?!_

“I don’t think so,” his maiden savior told the man.

“Rethink this, miss.” The man scribbled away at his strange tome. “Unfixed males spray. If he has impregnated a female before, then he will be more apt towards spraying urine in your home. You should really-“

“Just treat his wounds please.”

_Spoken wisely,_ Gilgamesh thought, trying to tell the woman of her good choice only to hear a pained mewling.

Those liquor colored eyes looked to him, glinting almost gold as the man pushed her to the door.

The moment she was gone, his luck descended back to Kur itself.

The man turned on something that sounded like a flock of bees. He could feel his body being shaven to bits, his golden fur-

Something pressed to the wounds he had been given and he screamed.

He screamed and screamed as the agony took form. Other maidens came, but their eyes were dulled like that of the eldest of temple maidens. He felt his body held to the table, unable to move for so long as they pressed stinging potion after potion to his body.

They spoke in tongue. Ccs and antiseptics; poisons no doubt.

He escaped their hands as one of the maidens drew close to speak to him. His claws hit her face and he ran for it.

Out of the room, he went. Down the strange corridor.

MAIDEN!

MAIDEN!

Where was his savior in this strange and unnatural world?!

“OH NO!”

More dull-eyed maidens lunged for him, hissing and spitting curses his way as he claws and spat at them. He ran through another door that was open, looking around a moment before he saw her.

She was sitting in a corner, biting at her lower lip as she gazed out at the world outside.

_“MAIDEN!”_

His call came out as a meow, but she turned to him anyway. His clever woman.

The woman gasped at the sight of him, running forward and scooping him up as she had before. He heard the familiar sound that he had heard before. His beloved zzzzzip.

More soothing than the sound of any lute or lyre, the familiar wrapping of warmth around his shaven and abused body made him simply purr.

“Miss!”

The man’s voice was nearby.

“I asked you to treat him!”

“I am-“

“YOU SHAVED HIM!”

His maiden. Truly, Utu himself must have chosen a savior for him in this trying time. He could see the man spluttering, but he held no chance. Somehow, miraculously, this maiden possessed the strength and the tongue of a man. She lectured him down, cradling him all the while like her own.

The man growled, but she would hear nothing.

They left the forsaken place.

He found himself awakening once more to the strange moving painting and the smooth chair. The woman held him on her lap and stroked his ears and head.

He could hear her hesitation.

Only an innocent would show such a tender heart like this. He leaned in further and gave her praise for her good deeds.

The wounds upon his body slowly began to fade away.

She called him ‘cat’ until she found herself cleaning his body up one night.

“You are gorgeous,” she told him softly.

He growled.

“I can’t say your ugly, now can I?”

Truly?

Had she seen him as a man, she would have been merely stripping her clothes from her body and begging him to take her. There had never been a woman taken by him that had ever complained. They all merely saw him and became overwhelmed with their love for him.

They spread themselves for him.

They presented their bodies and begged him to even look at them.

To be called ugly…

“G.”

He blinked.

“I won’t call you gorgeous, but I’ll call you G.”

G.

He wasn’t sure what this name meant, but it fared far better in his mind than Gorgeous. That reminded him of that damn goddess that he would destroy when he got the chance.

The woman fell asleep next to him, leaning against his long and oversized chair.

One moment, he was licking his paws. The next, he was lying half draped over the chair. His body was naked, but-

_“I’m back.”_

His voice was raspy, but it was there.

He picked up the maiden, carrying her through the building.

There was a bed.

It beat her lying on the floor, that was for sure.

Her clothes were pulled from her body. He tucked her beneath the covers and glanced around a little.

He’d grab what he needed and make his way back to Uruk.

No need to remain in this place any longer.

Some food was pulled into a sack. He had some medic supplies and some fabrics from the lounge area of the meager home.

Upon his return to his kingdom, he would find proper compensation for the woman and send them back to her.

Gilgamesh opened the door, stepping through just as the sun began to rise.

The moment he was through, he fell.

The sack and everything dropped to the ground. He screeched as he found himself once more in the feline body that he had been in before.

“G?!”

The maiden came running, a robe wrapped around her body as she appeared before him. She took a look at the bag and his mess of a body and scooped him up, grabbing the bag and the strange thing that she had spoken into before.

Uniformed soldiers were at her door, taking her information and looking around the building.

“You didn’t see them?”

“I think my cat stopped them,” his maiden- Hakuno Kishinami, told them.

Then… the man appeared.

He ran into the building as the soldiers were leaving. The soldiers did nothing as the white haired monster rushed to his maiden and held her arms.

“I saw the lights.”

“Emiya!”

Emiya.

Faker.

Gilgamesh found himself placed on Hakuno’s lap as the man dared to ruin his place on the couch with his behind and talk to his woman.

He made food.

It was average.

He dared to make Hakuno laugh at his paltry jokes and comments, even offering his own home to her.

“G has this covered,” Hakuno told him.

He did.

There was nothing to be concerned about, but between his brains and the maiden’s wicked tongue and strange white whistling device, they were safe.

The man became a suitor.

Each morning now, when he would awaken, the maiden would dare to leave him in this small building, going out into the twisting and turning world beyond. She returned in the afternoons, sometimes sporting that unwanted suitor on her arm.

Was this how his beasts had been forced to endure the maidens he had brought to the palace? Had they seen the unworthy women and become disgusted?

He growled, but the man seemed to know how to push him aside.

His maiden found him, but after the man was gone.

“I don’t know how he ended up in your closet,” the bastard told her.

Lies.

He was a foul breathed, lying bastard.

Ah, but the maiden.

She presented him with jewelry, allowing him into her baths after he heard a strange waterfall occurring in her bathing chamber.

She could harness the winds themselves, blowing his hair clean until he almost didn’t feel like he had thick and long golden fur. She made him smell like his fine oils at home, without the grease and oily feeling.

Truly, for such a maiden to exist…

Her family must have simply understood what kind of spirit they had created, casting her off into this nowhere of a place. Here or a tower would have been suitable, since her spirit was more average and open than most.

“G, I need to go,” Hakuno told him, looking around. “Where are my keys?”

He shifted, cursing mentally as the keys were revealed.

“Again! You’re better at finding them than me.”

Her lips pressed to his head.

She adored him.

Presenting him with plays and theater far exceeding that of anything he had seen, showing him the technological wonders like ‘cars’ and ‘electronics’ for his musing; Hakuno could have been a goddess herself.

Too plain though.

Gilgamesh followed after her as she would return, climbing into her bed and waiting for the next time the goddess would slip.

When would he become a human again?

He wanted to show this maiden what a real man was like. She could bear witness to his body in order to understand that a real man did not simply stand around her kitchen and dance around subjects. He would loom over her, steal her lips and show her what rewards she had earned for caring for him.

She came home in tears.

He tore apart the paper that spoke of her failure.

She could not get this F grade if he simply destroyed the paper now.

When he was human, he would find the beast of a man that had dared to judge her to be less than average and he would slam a blade through their stomach. He would feed them their entrails so that his maiden could understand that she did not need their useless ‘gender studies’.

Gender studies.

As though this were difficult.

The white haired man had returned one night.

Gilgamesh fancied the man’s shoes a moment before he leaned his body over them and quietly relieved himself.

Sure, the bathing chamber possessed an off colored throne for him to relieve himself in in the same way that Hakuno did, but the man had looked at Hakuno wrong.

He eyed her like a man at the bride market.

“I think it’s time you leave,” his woman had told him, upon the reveal of his misgivings.

He found himself held in her arms, fed the finest of meats from her plate as they enjoyed their evening plays with one another.

She would be his.

Unbelievably, she understood that he needed to do things to protect her.

She understood the ulterior motives of others.

What’s more, he saw her discussing money and earnings only to find himself pleased with her plans for ensuring that her wealth continued through work means.

Her words were of value, apparently.

That was good. He would put them to good use.

A king needed someone of clever mind and words.

She left him here and there, leaving him to look through her home some more for more clues about her secrets and her life.

She liked to take warm baths that were accompanied by serenades. She captured the winds and made both of them have hair that was silkier than anything he had ever felt in his life. When he went to sleep with her, he was wrapped in the warm smells that made his body yearn.

To be human a moment more.

He shouldn’t have wasted that night gathering supplies and trying to leave.

No, rather than that, he should have grabbed the woman and awakened her with his own embraces.

How was he supposed to know that she was this way? How could he have known that she would worm her way into his soul with her hours of adoration for him.

The moment she had seen him tearing apart her grade from that fool, her smile breaking through the tears, he had felt something in him crumble.

The damn fool.

Average in looks and in everything, yet, somehow, she could hold her own.

Her and her little white whistling device.

“You really made him mad this time,” his woman told him, hanging up on her ‘phone’.

He rolled onto his side.

“I do mean it, G. He’s probably never coming back after you peed in his shoes.”

Did she need him to return to her?

Gilgamesh simply pulled himself upright, allowing his hair to fluff right up around him. Letting her see his proud little stride right to her face, he licked her.

Perhaps he was not human right now, but he was capable of affection.

She seemed to pause, her hand going to her nose.

Then, all was well.

She understood that she needed no fool such as that white haired fake of a man. Instead, she carried him forth to her throne in the lounge and turned on their play showing ‘television’.

Together, they partook in their fascinating plays once more, his eyes drifting to watch her become absorbed in the actions happening.

This was what Enkidu had meant about women becoming entranced by plays.

He had held no interest personally, but, seeing Hakuno stare at the screen, her heart racing underneath his paws as the scene would become more dramatic; the feel of her holding him as things drew too suspenseful…

Well, he would treat this woman to endless plays just for her to curl into his body like this.

Uruk had the finest actors and plays in the world. While they could not fit in these strange paintings that the people called ‘televisions’, they could be live.

She could praise them when the performances were done.

His last hair’s length of hesitation from desiring this woman vanished with her words that she gave to him then.

“Shame you can’t teach me anything about Sumerians,” she said to him. “You could help me with my journal articles.”

Such a trust in faith and destiny… he hadn’t felt this way since being a young man, barely growing facial hair.

She fell asleep once again.

He stared to do the same when he felt the change.

_Finally!_

He stood up, grinning proudly at the sight of his hands and feet once more. No cat hair, no paws or claws.

Ah, now he could do this.

He climbed back over the woman, running his hands along her slender waist a moment before he pressed his lips to hers.

Such soft lips.

Those beer colored eyes opened to look up at him.

_Good evening, my woman._

He went to speak when something slammed against him. His woman was scrambling from his arms as he found himself holding his head and groaning.

The laptop.

A strange summoning device capable of capturing words from a tome.

It was expensive, the damn fool. She worried if she so much as dropped it. Why on earth she would hit him with such a thing-

She was running.

Gilgamesh leaped, clearing his thoughts to focus on the present.

A maiden was often shy in the presence of a man like him.

He captured her hands, placing them over her head. He held her legs with his own and leaned in close.

“GET OFF ME!”

“Oh, but why would I do that?”

Truly, she must be exhausted still. Falling asleep to a play as she had, he could only imagine the nonsense still running through her head.

“A man should properly thank his savior, after all. A life for a life seems suitable.”

He would offer her a place as a wife to him. She could enjoy the finest of Uruk life at his side and use those words for him and him alone.

She desired to know of Sumerians?

Who better to teach her than the Sumerian king of all, the great king Gilgamesh?

Better yet, she could surrender her status as a citizen of this kingdom and live as a Sumerian. She would do well with earrings that bore homage to the great goddess, Ninsun, and a royal necklace around her neck.

“I’ll have you know, I have a feral pet that will kick your ass the moment he sees you.” His maiden dared to lie. "It's him or my husband when he gets back."

Him or her husband?

Ah. It was obvious what was happening.

She was a terrified virgin.

Gilgamesh closed his eyes and let out a gentle sigh.

“I have no concerns about your pet,” he purred. “As for your husband. He will be me as the former is. Take heart, you have proven yourself worthy of being mine. It is a luxury that, as the actors in your painting say, few can afford.”


	3. Cease Your Nonsense

The man looming over her closed his eyes and let out a gentle sigh.

“I have no concerns about your pet,” he purred. “As for your husband. He will be me as the former is. Take heart, you have proven yourself worthy of being mine. It is a luxury that, as the actors in your painting say, few can afford.”

Painting?

Husband?

The man was completely insane.

She needed to be going. She needed to be getting the hell away from this man before he ended up killing her. She’d seen these kinds of attacks and assaults in the movies. Even more, she lived in the city. She wasn’t going to shove her head in the sand and pretend that this wasn’t possible.

“You’ve gotten quiet.”

Think.

She needed to get out from under him. She needed to get to the door or her phone. Finding G would be important as well. The poor cat had probably been tossed into her closet or something.

Had he truly gotten himself stuck in there all those times that Emiya had come over?

A hand moved under the hem of her shirt, his hands holding hers in place.

“STOP!”

“Why?”

Why?

She could think of a good couple dozen reasons why this man needed to stop touching her. First and foremost being that she didn’t want him and she definitely didn’t want that kind of attention right now.

“Hakuno,” he drawled, moving his hand out from under her shirt and to her hair, brushing it back from her face.

She flinched from his touch.

It was instinctive.

“…Let me go.”

“I have waited for this opportunity.”

What had she done differently this evening that she hadn’t done before? Her eyes drifted to the window, to where her windows were still locked and closed. Her eyes went from there to the door, leaning back to stare at the deadbolt still in place.

Wait…

“…How did you get in?”

“You brought me here.”

Oh no, she hadn’t.

She was pretty damn sure she wasn’t letting strangers into her home in her sleep and locking up the house once they were in.

The urge to ask about G was on the tip of her tongue, but she stopped herself.

Revealing that G was in the house could result in him becoming upset or hurting G. The last thing she wanted was to lose the cat when she had saved him.

“…I need to use the restroom.”

It was a poor excuse, but it was all she could think of at the moment. The man stared once more at her before pulling back slowly.

“Don’t force me to hold you down again, woman. I have no intention of harming you. You should do the same.”

“Sure.”

The man pulled her to her feet, slowly guiding her over to the restroom in her home. He seemed to know that the door was stubborn, lifting the door slightly so that it would open right up.

“We can discuss returning to my home when you finish.”

“Of course.”

She wasn’t going to do that, but he could think that that was the plan. Her eyes drifted around the room once the door closed and she began to think.

There was only one door to this bathroom. It was her guest one and one that she didn’t leave many things in. Underneath the sink she had some chemicals. There were a couple towels for the shower in case she had company stay over one day.

Yanking open the cabinet, she glanced through her armory.

Toilet bowl cleaner.

Window cleaner.

A toilet brush and plunger.

Toilet paper.

Her eyes went to the hammer in the back of the cabinet.

_Of course!_

G had hated the sound of her hammer when she had hung up a painting in this bathroom so she’d abandoned her hammer here to go comfort him.

_I love that cat._

She packed the toilet bowl cleaner under her arm just in case.

Two seconds and she’d be spraying the bastard with something that would take medical attention. Somehow she doubted that this man had the capability to go to the hospital. There was probably already a warrant out for his arrest.

Her hand pulled at the toilet handle.

Slowly, carefully, Hakuno lifted and pushed the door open, the hammer held low as she looked around the door.

He wasn’t in the hallway.

He was probably in the kitchenette area near the front door.

However, this meant she could look for G.

A good swing with her hammer and G in her arms, she could make a run for it.

“G,” she whispered. She clicked her tongue quietly, heading towards her bedroom. “G, where are you?”

He had to be close.

The cat practically was attached to her hip when she was home. Having him away from her was making her uncomfortable.

“G?”

She inched her door open.

“Hakuno?”

Her movement paused, her arm hiding the hammer just inside the bedroom.

“What are you doing with that bottle?”

“Oh.” Hakuno grinned. “I forgot I needed it in the other bathroom.”

The man rolled his eyes, “then put it in your bathroom and be done with it. We have more pressing matters to discuss than your bathroom bottles.”

Bathroom bottles?

Did he not know what cleaner looked like?

The brand alone should have been what he called it. That or bowl cleaner.

He’d mentioned paintings talking too. He wasn’t necessarily sane.

Forget the bottle.

She moved into her room, looking around in vain.

No G.

_Where?_

There was the closet by the front door.

If the man had somehow managed to get in through the front door, then he may have tossed G into the closet out there and knocked him out.

If that was the case, then she would just need to knock the man out and grab her cat as she fled.

Her phone wasn’t in her room either, she noted.

“Hakuno!”

“I’m coming!”

She hurried along the hallway, peeking around the corner to see the man standing in front of her counterspace.

“You haven’t eaten this evening.”

Drugs.

“I’m not hungry,” she told him.

“I wasn’t asking.” He motioned at the table nearby. “Sit.”

Another nod. She was moving around him, getting behind his back and moving the hammer carefully into a good position.

The closet door was closed. It was no doubt where her cat was. She could throw it open as she undid the front door bolt. Doing so would give her a moment for him to get around the door to get her if he didn’t get completely knocked out.

Three.

Two.

The man moved so quickly that she couldn’t even register what was going on. The hammer was out of her hands, tossed onto the counter a moment before he was pulling her close.

“I feed you and you try to attack me?!”

“I’m not staying with some trespassing, perverted bastard!”

“I was born from a married couple. I’m a damned king, woman, not a bastard.”

“You’re delusional.”

“I’m quite clear headed. As are you.”

“If you leave now, I won’t call the cops.” She glared straight up at him. “I’ll consider this a wrong address thing. I won’t report this. You can go back to where you came from and I will-“

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re invading my home.”

“How can I invade your pathetic excuse for a home when you brought me here?”

She should have taken psychology or something instead of cultural studies for a degree. She wasn’t sure if talking this through with him was actually going to work.

“Hakuno!”

“I’m listening!” She glared at him. “I did not bring you here. The only people I have brought here is my friend.”

“Friend.” He scoffed. “You call that white haired mongrel a friend? He’s lucky I didn’t claw his face off when he tried leaning against you when that overly flowery play was being performed on your painting.”

Her mouth opened to argue, but…

There was no way that he could know about that moment the other week.

Emiya had been over to comfort her about the house invasion. G had been between them and had scratched at his chest when Emiya had moved a bit too close. She’d apologized and she’d turned off that romantic film that had been on, having not enjoyed it anyway.

There had been no one in her home.

Both she and Emiya had looked.

“Why are you calling the television a painting?”

“It is much like a painting, hanging on the wall and showing pleasing images.”

“…And how do you know about that moment? The only people at my home at that time was myself and Emiya.”

He sighed as though she were the thick one.

He moved her hands to one of his and showed her his wrist.

_Nice try._

She wasn’t going to look.

“…Where’s G?”

“Are you truly going to make a man confess to licking himself for what must have been a couple dozen passings of the sun?”

Passings of the-

No one talked like this.

“I’m not going to ask again. Where is my cat?”

He rolled his eyes, releasing her and returning to the stove.

“We will leave in a bit. You need to eat first.” He was messing with a spatula and eggs on the stove. “Since you are well aware of Uruk, then I shall allow you to take the lead in returning me home. Once we are there, I will reward you properly.”

“Of course. Of course, Don Quixote.”

She was just as mad as the senile hero from that story.

The man glanced back at her, his eyes drifting to the window.

“It’s getting closer to dawn. It will fare better for us to leave in the morning light.”

She was going to scream the moment they made it outside and got around people. Better yet, she was going to find his doctor and ensure the doctor figured out how he had escaped before.

“Now then.” The man motioned her into her seat and set the eggs in front of her. “You inquired about Sumerians. You’ll learn soon enough about my people.”

“I’m not hungry-“

“Do you think it poisoned?”

The quick question only made her give him a droll look, waiting.

That was exactly what she was thinking. Someone that was insane, breaking into her home, telling her that she was going to travel on over to what was modern day Iraq just to take him home, telling her that he licked himself; he was entirely loony and bound to do anything.

The man took a couple bites of the eggs, tossing the fork onto the plate.

“I don’t eat eggs-“

“You had them almost every morning this week.”

_How did he know that?!_

It was creepy that he knew that much about her life.

Her eyes drifted around him, to where her phone was lying on the counter.

“…I forgot that I made plans with Emiya. I need to cancel-“

“You made no plans. You’re a poor liar.” He shoved a forkful of egg into her mouth and sat down across from her. “Cease your nonsense and listen to me. You are plain and you are average in nature and personality, but you can understand when your cat is speaking to you. Eat your food.”

He thought he was her…

_Oh boy._

She went to spit out the food, but the man covered her mouth, forking up a bit and eating it himself.

“Not poisoned,” he promised, making a show of his mouth after he swallowed.

That didn’t prove much.

“You are lucky. I have decided that, despite your faults, you have proven yourself to be something of merit. Lackluster and in need of proper guidance, but promising.”

This was somehow worse to hear than seeing her F on paper and getting lectured by her professor.

“I have decided that you will be suitable as a maiden in my palace. Another wife, in fact.”

“Another wife?”

What a compliment. He’d gone from insane to insulting _and insane_ in five seconds flat.

If he became murderous, she’d have the three big signs to get the hell out of her house.

After this was over, she was going to strap her phone to her leg and never let it go. She’d carry an extra battery just in case too.

“Hakuno,” the man tilted her chin back.

Those red eyes simply gleamed.

“Your struggles were entertaining to watch, but the sheer determination, both encouraging the faker to give you information and keeping him from touching you or being promised anything from you other than a paltry friendship and half burnt food was impressive. I have listened to your speeches, watched you hold yourself together through harsh diplomats giving you the infernal F rating that is undesirable and costing you your occupation.”

She munched on some of the eggs, frowning at the taste.

Her eyes drifted to the fluffy eggs.

“What are in these?”

“I have placed some churned butter and milk into the eggs. It should add to the taste.”

It was good.

She ate a bit more, watching as the first rays of light came through the window.

“As my wife, you shall not need to concern yourself with mongrel ratings either. Those F ratings shall cease. In fact, I have planned to send my friend Enkidu to pay this man a visit when we are done returning to Uruk.”

He opened his mouth to continue, but a light flashed in the room.

G was sitting in the seat near her, his meowing incessant and loud.

The cat leaped down, rolling a little at the awkward height. Immediately, he was running circles and crying loudly about something.

_G was…_

Hakuno glanced at the eggs again.

She stared at her cat, watching him run around her ankles and cry loudly.

“…I’m dreaming.”

That was it.

She’d spent ages handling all of that work at her day job and handling her courses during the mornings on certain days for so long that her mind had plotted the whole scenario.

First things first, she picked up her phone and checked her messages.

A couple messages about studying from Emiya.

She watched G follow after her and hesitated outside her room.

“G, if you’re a human trapped as a cat, do something very uncatlike.”

The cat closed his eyes a moment before heading over to her stove in the kitchen. He motioned at the stove still being on.

It was impossible.

“Come on, G.”

Hakuno picked the cat up; turning off the stove and heading for her room.

“I need some serious sleep. I’m in need of some rest.”


	4. Ouija-Like Communication

She couldn’t sleep.

She just… couldn’t.

Her ceiling showed the faintest traces of the sun as the morning continued to begin. She could see that the blinds were slightly open. She could see G coming into the room and climbing up onto the bed. His fur fluffed up around him as he walked her way, slipping under her arm and pressing against her person.

Any other morning, she would have been pulling him close, cooing softly to him.

Any other morning, she would have been all too happy to curl up and maybe sneak them both something to eat from the kitchen.

Today was not one of those days though.

Even when he licked her face, she just felt wrong.

_He’d been a man in her kitchen._

Or she was tired.

She had to be tired. It’d been a long night. She’d been working a few extra hours here and there and leaving for part of the day every day. The study sessions and the constant concern about rent and courses were starting to wear on her sanity. Micro-sleep was a thing. Clearly a delusion about a random, incredibly attractive man breaking into her home was not necessarily a leap.

Yesterday evening, clearly her sanity had decided to take a trip to a black hole, leaving her insane.

She’d probably just been wandering through her house with G following after her, meowing and pawing at her here and there.

That was it.

“You wouldn’t force me to leave my home, would you, G?”

Hakuno pressed her face into the cat’s fur, feeling the cat turn a little and lick her face.

She fell asleep to his loud purring and the sun outside rising higher.

The sound of the door being pounded on met her ears when she woke up the next time. G was curled up on her person, his head gently rising as they both heard the pounding once again.

“Hakuno!”

Emiya’s voice could be heard.

_Why did he want?_

G growled, hurrying out of the room.

She pulled her robe around herself more, yawning as she slowly pulled herself from the blankets and headed for the door. The lights were still on in the house. The stove held a handful of ingredients and things on them.

She’d left the remaining eggs out.

_The man who had been in her home had left the eggs out._

Without hesitating, she pulled the door open, finding the white haired man standing on her doorstep.

“What’s going on?”

“You weren’t in class.”

“Oh.”

Right.

It’d been a school night. She was going to need to find a doctor’s note or something for explaining where she’d been. Even as she thought that, Emiya was pushing passed her though, frowning at the state of the house.

“Are you alright, Hakuno? Your house smells a bit like rotten food.”

Closing the door, she forced herself to nod.

“I’m fine, Emiya. I just overslept today. I think I’ve just been overworking myself a little. G and I were taking the day to recover.”

_Actually, my cat turned into a person and started getting handsy and telling me that we were going to go to Uruk and then I tried to attack him, he made me food, and then he turned back into a cat. It’s been great. I’ve gone insane._

Emiya picked up the eggs, setting them back in the fridge and looking around a little more.

G was growling at his feet.

“Hakuno… Why don’t I help you clean up while you rest?”

“That doesn’t sound like helping.”

He shrugged, pulling his jacket off. “Call it what you will. You’ve clearly gotten a flu or something. Coming to the door with your bathrobe on and keeping the eggs out. Go to bed.”

She gave him a salute, heading off to bed.

G could do what he wished.

Bed was soft.

Bed was warm.

The distant sound of Emiya cleaning up the house and doing dishes could be heard, disrupted here and there when the man would get after G for something. The cat’s growling and spitting could be heard well enough, but she was tired.

So so very tired.

A little sleep would do wonders.

A small body jumped onto her own. She could feel those paws move as the cat walked up her person. Opening her eyes, she glanced down to see the cat patting at her face.

G pointed at the door with his paw.

No.

No, cats didn’t point. He just happened to be lifting his paw and it happened to be pointing in the direction of the door. He was not pointing.

A small growl came.

“G. I’m tired. Ask Emiya for food.”

A soft patting came to her shoulder.

She opened her eyes again after a moment and found the cat looming over her.

Two jabs towards the door.

Another growl.

“You don’t like him.”

The cat nodded.

No, the cat did not nod.

Cats were not capable of understand human gestures like that. He had merely happened to lightly bob his head once when she asked a question that just happened to have a yes or no question. There was no way that he had understood what she was asking and how to respond in kind.

She wrapped an arm around G’s fluff of a body, pulling him close and closing her eyes again.

She couldn’t go crazy if she just went back to sleep.

G wasn’t having that though. Even as she closed her eyes, attempting to go to sleep, she found the cat nuzzling close, making small sounds and trying to nudge at her.

She did what she could to ignore him, but-

“G, please.”

More tapping.

“G, please. I’m already halfway prepared to take myself to a psych ward. I won’t look good in white.”

More tapping came, alongside a growl.

Hakuno sat up, surrendering.

She’d sleep later.

Heading into the other room, she could see Emiya already starting to cook what seemed to be dinner. A bottle of cheap wine was sitting on the counter.

“Thirsty?”

“No,” Hakuno waved off the wine offer, settling into a seat. “Why are you making food?”

“You were hungry earlier, weren’t you?” Emiya held up the plates. “Even the sick must eat.”

Even the sick…

Hakuno glanced over at the bag near the door, noting the plastic bag he had over it and the metallic wrapper sticking out of the man’s back pocket as he turned to grab the salt from the counter.

“I really plan on staying on my own for tonight, Emiya. My head hurts. Do you mind giving me the short explanation of class and checking in with Sakura tonight for me? I didn’t manage to get ahold of her.”

“Did you call?”

_No._

Hakuno shrugged.

“Honestly? I’m not sure it went through. If you could check on her after dinner-“

“Eat your food. I’ll at least see to that before I go checking on Sakura. She’s been wanting me to visit soon anyway. I’ll be a nice break from Cu Chulainn and Rin. The two are constantly at one another these days. If Cu’s not trailing mud in from fishing trips, Rin’s making messes in the bathroom with her five thousand bottle spa day in the baths. Between the two of them, it’s a wonder I have any-“

She stopped listening.

Her eyes drifted over to G, watching him look around the overnight bag that Emiya had brought. Those red eyes were squinting, his paw only too easily running over the plastic.

He cut that bag open like a stealth assassin, turning as soon as the slash was made and taking aim.

Tail up, back leg lifted…

“-Then I was telling Rin to just take him home with her-“

“G’s peeing on your things,” Hakuno warned.

The man froze, the sound of liquid being shot out coming from behind him. The evil, smug smile died the moment he turned, taking in the chaos of what had just happened.

He left after that.

She locked the door back up, giving the man and testament to sanity a small wave as he tried to hurry out so he could wash up his things back home.

“You’re not very original,” Hakuno threw towards the golden menace.

The proud state of that fluffed up body and raised chin said nothing less than _I don’t have to be._

“I’m losing it,” Hakuno muttered. She headed to the couch and pulled her laptop over to herself.

Deciding not to tell Emiya had been the wise move to make. She knew that and she was proud of herself for sticking to her guns on that matter. She had no proof other than a messy house. Even if he had believed her, he would have insisted to either stay at the apartment or have her go to his.

He would have insisted she get rid of G.

It wasn’t a bad idea, finding G another home. The cat could probably find a family with more time and more money. The cardboard box he had in the corner and sharing her bed was probably kind of second rate compared to what others could offer him.

However…

Finding him a new home was her assuming that he couldn’t turn into a man.

“He’s a cat, Hakuno,” she told herself, pulling up the internet and her resources from before.

Now was the time for apologizing for her absence today. Tomorrow she would be working. She could stop by Emiya’s to pick up her assignment information and asking for his notes.

G leaped up onto the couch.

Those red eyes were watching her fingers move across the keyboard as she typed up a poor excuse for her professor and began to work. She could see him in her peripheral, moving slowly closer and closer as her fingers moved across the various keys.

His paws pat at one of the keys.

“G,” she growled.

Those eyes looked at her a moment before those eyes were on the screen.

His paw bat at the cuneiform on the screen.

Her mouse wasn’t moving.

He had no reason to-

_As my wife, you shall not need to concern yourself with mongrel ratings. In fact, I have planned to send my friend Enkidu to pay this man a visit when we are done returning to Uruk._

Hakuno paused a moment, her eyes drifting to the textbook she hadn’t opened yet.

Someone from the time of Uruk wouldn’t know their language. It was far different from the dead language that had been common. Sumerian was in her book though. It was written there and it had her language next to it.

This was such a foolish thing to do.

“Come here, G.”

Hakuno pulled the cat alongside her, pulling her book from the clear wrapping that it was in and opening it. She flipped through the foreward, settling on the basics for a dictionary at the front and held the book for the cat to paw at.

“I’m losing my mind, G. If you are a human being, give me a message.”

The cat stared at her.

Probably because she was attempting to have the cat communicate like some kind of Ouija board.

Tomorrow, she would go out and she would run her day like usual. She was going to take a few days and maybe go visit Emiya after the semester was done. A break was clearly calling for her and she was missing the call.

Yes, she needed to do some serious resting.

G meowed at her.

His paw hit the page.

Glancing over the book, she froze.

A greeting.

His paw had hit a moment of speech in the Epic that she had opened the book up to. Those red eyes were watching her.

“…You could just be a cat.”

The male cat moved its paw to another statement on the page and to the bottom.

_King… disappointed._

No.

Hakuno stood up, moving away from the cat. Even with her feet touching the carpet, her mind and her body felt a thousand cities away. Her eyes closed as she tried to allow herself to think clearer.

G meowed from his spot on the end table.

“You said Enkidu last night.”

She knew that name. There was a story in her books that talked about someone with that name.

She fumbled with the books, flipping through pages as the cat moved around her person. The more she looked, the more she found G’s actions to be unusual.

He focused on her a bit too much.

He was so careful about where he sat.

He didn’t lick himself as much as she’d seen cats at the petstore clean themselves. He even used the toilet, a fact that Emiya and the vet when she had called them both had said was unnatural.

“Cats do not teach themselves to use the toilet.”

G had though.

He’d gone straight to her bathroom and used it like he’d been doing so his whole life.

G meowed again.

His paw was patting at the same spot as before on the book.

“Okay.” Hakuno moved back over to the cat again, setting on the coffee table and flipping through the book. “G, I need you to point to words that mean what I tell you, okay? Point to forest.”

The cat pawed at the cuneiform for forest.

“Temple maiden.”

Again, he paused the word.

“Wife.”

The cat lifted his paw and bopped her nose.

She was talking to her cat.

Her cat was claiming that she was his wife.

_Her cat could turn into a man at any moment and resume that same nonsense as before with trying to get her to take him to a country that didn’t exist anymore and then possibly lose his temper and kill her._

“Alright.” Hakuno closed the book, setting it down quietly.

Her eyes drifted over to the cat, finding him sitting tall and seemingly quite proud of himself. No matter how she looked at it, he seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

He was listening.

He was understanding.

“Alright… Right…”

She was feeling a bit lightheaded for some reason.

Maybe if she just… laid down…

_My cat is a human._

She needed to do a lot more resting.

_G is a man… and he’s been in my baths and bed for over a month now._

G moved close, curling up against her shoulder and purring loudly.

She would learn the details tomorrow.

Everything sounded better as a task for tomorrow.


	5. Preparations for Trouble

“One more time.”

Her cat just looked at her as she said this.

Two weeks.

For two weeks now, she’d been doing this. She could tell she wasn’t focusing at work, mostly because Hans was never letting her hear the end of it. She could tell that she was going to be running into trouble if she continued in this realm of thinking. What’s more, she could barely focus on studying. The words on the pages in front of her each night were blurring before her eyes and her fingers wouldn’t move on the keyboard for essays like they used to.

The only thing that had been fortunate was all her studying on Enkidu and who they had been had earned her a decent grade in one class.

G, the stubborn cat that he was, yawned, fluffing up his hair and moving over to where she had set her book.

It was time to try this again.

She had more pages, having spent the morning drawing Cuneiform instead of doing her work. She’d made something of a Ouija board of cuneiform, with additional words and letters beneath. Anything that the cat could point at and she could jot down would work.

“Alright,” Hakuno motioned at the table covered in ancient text. “We’ll start with something simple. What is your name?”

Her cat looked amongst the letters and words, meowing to her after a moment and going to her texts nearby.

“G. I need you to tell me your name.”

The cat stared over at her, letting out a bored noise before nudging at the books nearby.

“I put this together,” she told him.

He didn’t care. He pushed at her books before she sighed and went to his side. Finicky beast, and after all her hard work putting together the communication board for him. 

Gods, but she was losing her mind with this.

She spent ten long, agonizing minutes feeling like a fool and flipping through pages, earning meows and a head turn when his name was not on there.

Finally, the cat pointed.

Gilgamesh.

“…So I was okay with naming you G…”

The cat was purring away, waiting for the next question.

Before, she just asked him to confirm that he understood with words. This was the first time that she was bothering to have the cat try to communicate back with her. So far, she knew he went by Gilgamesh.

And that she was probably his wife-

No.

She wasn’t going to think about that.

Lifting Gilgamesh up, Hakuno returned him to the table and hummed softly.

“…Did you see me in my baths?”

The cat motioned to yes. 

Shit. 

Hakuno moved away from the table, pacing her living room as she tried to think more clearly. She needed to stop. She needed to just figure out where to drop herself off as a psychiatric patient. There was no way he was really a person. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from continuing.

“…Did you purposefully pee in Emiya’s shoes?”

Gilgamesh just purred louder, motioning to yes a moment before he was walking to where she stood. Those crimson colored eyes just gleamed proudly.

_ He’d do it again in a heartbeat if he could. _

“Are you able to turn into a man at any time?”

That was the big question.

She’d spent how many days now, wondering when she would get up to find that blond man back in her home. She’d spent so many nights relaxing with G only to find herself wondering if he would flash into the man he had been before.

Would she wake up in a new place, away from her friends and her peers?

What if she found herself turned into a cat?

She could handle the running around and long 8 hour naps, but the fending for herself and possibly being stuck on the streets of Fuyuki?

That wasn’t going to work.

Gilgamesh pointed to no.

So he couldn’t turn into a man at any time.

“How do you change?”

The cat flopped onto his side, yawning.

“Gilgamesh,” she growled. “When do you change?”

All she got in response was a bored look before the cat sauntered over to the glass dish with turkey pieces inside. He munched a bit before returning to her and sitting on his haunches.

No answer.

_ I could probably go buy a magic 8 ball and get as many answers. _

He’d turned into a man two weeks ago…

Then there had been the break in a month before-

“Did you turn into a man before two weeks ago?”

Gilgamesh’s paw went to yes again.

“Did you end up turning back into a cat at my front door?”

Another tap on yes.

It was once a month. For one night, once a month, he was turning into a man. Two weeks ago put his change around the first of the month. She had about a half month left and then she would be finding herself face to face with his human form again.

And he didn’t know that.

Pulling out her phone, she marked the date for the next month and set a reminder before returning her attention to the bemused cat on her table.

“So you are the lost king of Uruk?”

The cat tilted his head.

“You are Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, correct?”

The cat pawed once more at the yes.

“King Gilgamesh was the ruler of Uruk until he was smited by the goddess Ishtar. His brother in arms, Enkidu, had to take over ruling Uruk. The being was ultimately destroyed by the very gods that created them and the kingdom of Uruk went through a time of turmoil until a man came along claiming to have been a bastard child of yours.”

There was silence now.

Had she tapped her cat, he would have simply fallen off the table and shattered into pieces.

“Everyone refers to the king as the missing king. He vanished from the universe and his mother was inconsolable. She ended up walking into the Euphrates.”

There were references like that of Homer from the Epic of Enkidu. The woman’s comparison of her heart to stone had been one that had stood out in particular.

The silence in her room lingered. All of the eagerness to go along with her communication method had left Gilgamesh. He lowered himself to the table and lay uselessly.

“G?”

Hakuno leaned in, watching the cat stare off into space.

“G? Are you alright?”

He didn’t move.

In fact, even as she decided to take a break and let him have some time to relax, she found that he didn’t move. No food enticed him like usual, despite the cat’s deep love for steak. When she drew her bath, leaving the door parted despite her better instincts, she found that there was no company joining her.

Truly, by the time she was ready for bed, he was still laying on her coffee table. His eyes were looking at the cuneiform. His whiskered twitched here and there, the only indicators of life at all in his being.

“G?”

Hakuno knelt down, wrapping her robes around herself a little more.

“…Gilgamesh?”

This was no doubt a great time to remind herself that she had been dragged around her home by this man. He’d been pushing her to eat and prepare for a journey to Uruk. He’d-

_ He’d thought he could go home. _

The moment it clicked, Hakuno found her insides twisting.

She’d just informed a man that was her cat that, along with being outside his time and outside of his natural form, his world had passed without him. His friend was dead and his mother had mourned to the point of no return.

It wasn’t pity, but her arms pulled Gilgamesh off the glass table. She carried him close to her chest, checking the deadbolt and the windows on her way to her room.

She plumped up G’s pillow on her bed, setting him carefully on it before she went to get his brushes.

For a long while, they were just like that.

Gilgamesh could mourn in peace, laying in the comfort of their room with a handful of brushes running over his fur. She forced a bit of water into his mouth with a cleaned up turkey baster.

Hours must have gone by.

Hakuno didn’t bother with the television in her room. She didn’t bother to create some kind of other noise to distract her from this.

Instead, she simply gave him time to think. She rubbed at his paw pads and his fur, running makeup brushes over the long hair that he had just for the sole enjoyment of being pampered.

If nothing else, he could lose himself in the pampering for a time.

She found herself slowly wilting, falling to the sheets until she opted to surrender the brushes and simply use her hands. Her fingers combed through the cat’s golden hair, watching those eyes turn to watch her own.

A low purring had been happening in the room for long enough now that she knew what she had done had been the right thing.

“I don’t know what you did,” Hakuno murmured to the cat, “but… we’re kind of partners from here on out, aren’t we? I’ll keep you safe from dogs and the dangers of the modern world.”

She swore it to him, understanding that it must have been hard to lose someone.

Being alone in the world, she didn’t really have that experience. She just knew how the absence felt at times.

Due to that, she swore to take care of him.

When she awakened the next morning, she prepared and left for classes.

The distractions were great.

She found herself yawning while standing behind the counter at work, ignoring most of the conversation and opting to focus on the tasks at hand.

When she arrived home, it was back to pampering Gilgamesh. Her brushes were pulled from the nightstand. She found him leaving the bathroom, plucking him up and heading back in for a bath. 

The warmth fogged the mirror. The scent of the candles as she focused on trying to cheer him up again seemed to have him back to his normal loud purring and his typical nuzzling self. Slowly, she was seeming to reach him. 

When the sound of her phone came while she was turning on the blowdryer and watching Gilgamesh roll on her bathroom rug, she found herself ignoring it.

It rang again before bed, bringing her hands to a stop as she brushed out Gilgamesh some more.

The bold white letters proudly displayed ‘Emiya’ upon the screen.

He could leave a message. It wasn’t like there was anything pressing going on. Again, she let it ring. Her arms wrapped around her cat and her face pressed against his fur, listening to his low purr and feeling his tongue on her forehead.

The next few days were the same.

She pushed off her homework mostly to the weekend, finding herself falling back into her routine that she had been in before.

This time, however, she knew that Gilgamesh was listening.

She set Gilgamesh down on the table as she looked at her homework, asking him questions about Uruk and watching his gaze flicker over the table. His paws would go to certain words or phrases, making her reiterate them for a yes or no answer.

Each answer was only helping her grade improve that much more.

Her professor was impressed at the change.

Emiya was frowning.

“How are you remembering this?”

“I found some extra time to study.”

He didn’t like that answer.

She really didn’t need him to like it.

Like that, it felt like two weeks had slipped like water through her fingers. She was entering the night of Gilgamesh’s return to human form.

A bottle of wine was out.

Gilgamesh was curled up on the couch as usual, watching her television show while she cooked dinner.

Soon enough, she’d be encountering his human form once again and she would be able to converse with him like two human beings instead of an insane woman and her cat.

Just to keep him distracted a bit, she’d indulged in making cookies…

She’d made them for herself.

They were hers.

He could have one.

Maybe.

Grabbing one for taste testing purposes, Hakuno peeked around the kitchen area to the living room, watching Gilgamesh yawn widely.

There was still a little time before the sun was truly set.

She turned off the oven and found herself waiting.

Once he changed forms, she would go in and let him know that she had figured out the pattern of his changing to human form. They could talk about what had happened to him and figure out how to help him.

Just another-

A pounding came at her door.

“Hakuno! I brought dinner,” Emiya’s voice called. A loud thump came immediately as she heard that. The flash of light from the living room came before Hakuno heard the sound of a bemused laugh coming from the direction of her living room sofa. 

The two male voices, one calling her and one laughing, made her stomach drop.

Gilgamesh was human again.

And she had extra company.


	6. Wine With A King

_Shit._

The thoughts of dinner were gone. Her mind was immediately and immensely focused on the fact that Gilgamesh was back in his human form. Her thoughts were immediately on the door and the man that was on the other side.

Emiya needed to be heading out.

Gilgamesh needed to not ruin her relationship with the man.

“Stay there,” she demanded of him, knowing full well that maybe there was a half minute before he would be doing what he wished to be doing anyway.

Hakuno pulled the door open and found Emiya shoving passed her.

“You’ve been avoiding everyone, Hakuno. Sakura and Rani are concerned. You can avoid me if you wish but avoiding…”

His words trailed off.

She didn’t blame him a bit for it, taking a moment to look back at the mess she had just welcomed into her life.

There were two plates set up on the counter, a selection of food cooked and waiting on the stove. The wine was cooling in an ice filled pot on her counter. The room was set for two people to sit and dine together.

It wasn’t the preparations that stopped Emiya though.

She could have been inviting anyone over to her house with this set up. It didn’t necessarily mean that she had a date or anything going on. She’d done this kind of set up for celebrating events before. She tended to be a habitual celebration giver.

No, it was the fact that there was a naked blond leaning against the doorway to the living room.

The man was crossing his arms, his eyes closed as a smirk played on his lips. At the other’s silence, Gilgamesh was running a hand through his hair, brushing it back.

Somehow, it felt like merely brushing his hair back was revealing more of him than the fact that he was nude in her kitchen.

“…Who are you?”

There was no emotion in Emiya’s voice as he spoke. His eyes were locked on Gilgamesh’s face, waiting for his answer.

The room was growing colder by the minute.

“I don’t believe I gave you the right to speak to me,” the man replied, that voice smoother than silk.

“Hakuno is not someone who let’s random men into her home. After the last situation a couple months ago-“

“She has nothing to worry about.” That smirk grew more prominent, reminding her of the smile of a great shark or that of a snake with its jaws unhooking. “I’m surprised that you bothered to come here, since Hakuno has spent weeks with me. Tell me, is it the sweet taste of her skin that did you in or are you one of those men who merely trails after women listlessly?”

The white haired friend of hers looked to her now. “Hakuno-“

“Emiya,” she had to stop this now. “Can we meet up tomorrow? I ah-“

“She has things to do,” Gilgamesh purred, the language of that more loaded than she’d ever heard anyone’s voice be before.

Things.

He made it sound like there was only one thing that needed to be done. The way his body seemed to be modeling the length and slight muscle that ran along his body, it was without saying what that something was.

She needed to do something else.

Speak up, argue, point out something towards what was going on-

God, but how did she explain that there was an ancient demi-god in her home that was her cat 90% of the time?!

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Emiya stated, turning away from the man before him.

“She won’t,” Gilgamesh all but promised.

“If you need me, you have my number,” Emiya continued, speaking more softly as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

She could no more react than she could stop to explain.

Like that, Emiya was turning, pulling his jacket a bit closer and walking out of the place. The door was latching behind him and she was alone again.

No.

Not alone.

She’d been right about the date for Gilgamesh’s transformation.

Gilgamesh, king of Uruk and long lost from his own people and world, was standing in her kitchen doorway. Red tattoos were criss crossing his chest and upper arms. His body had not an ounce of fat to it.

“He came back again.”

It took a moment to figure out who he was talking about.

It took another moment to realize she was still looking him over.

“I ah- I have a blanket in the living room.”

“No need,” the man moved to her table, settling in onto one of the seats and crossing his legs slightly. “I’ve been wearing a coat in your home for a month. It’s nice to be bare once more.”

It may be, but she was going to get him a blanket.

The red fabric was grabbed from the back of her couch, tossed his way as she focused back in on dinner.

There was no time tonight to be running after Emiya. She had waited an entire month to speak to this man and she was going to have her words with him. When he was a cat once again and the sun was up, she would go find Emiya and try to find an explanation.

If there was one to be found.

“…As you like,” Gilgamesh stated behind her, the sound of fabric rustling a bit.

How to begin this conversation…

She’d spent enough time hoping to get him into human form again, hoping to explain the world and everything that he was surrounded by, she hadn’t really thought about how to broach the subject of… well, anything.

“You knew that I was going to change,” the man began, glancing to the wine and food nearby. His smile seemed to remain, those eyes turning to her.

“You said that you had been the one on my doorstep when I had thought someone was invading my house.”

He nodded when she glanced his way.

“That was a month exactly before the night you changed last. I figured it was tonight or in the next few days.”

He smirked, leaning back a little.

Somehow, he made her blanket look like it was far more expensive than it had any right to look. He seemed to make his corner of the kitchen look far more opulent.

“You must have made a decision about how to return me to Uruk then,” he stated. “I’m open to your reach of a dream. Considering the useless gnat that placed me in this situation, I find myself more open-minded on the impossibles.”

“I have no idea how to help you.”

She didn’t even know how he’d gotten here in the first place.

What gnat was he referring to? Were there plagues in his time?

He scowled at her.

It was true though. Hakuno shrugged, shaking her head.

“Do you know how you turn into a cat?”

“If I had any inclination as to what magic places me into that form, I would not be lying on your couch during a vast majority of the month, entertaining myself with the quarrels of your modern day plays.”

“Television shows.”

He wrinkled his nose as he drank some of the wine she’d sat down.

At the food she set before him, he shifted it in mild distaste with his fork.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t eat it.”

“I’ve accepted that I’m subject to your whimsical experiments in culinary arts.” He took a bite, closing his eyes with that frown still in place. “What use did you find in going to this trouble, if not to provide me with assurances of my return to Uruk?”

She was asking herself the same question.

Talking to him about the present didn’t feel like a grand idea now.

In fact, any conversation about the situation around her felt like it would merely lead to-

He was leaning closer, his plate pushed aside.

“Are you still thinking about the last time I was human?”

“Hmm?”

The man smirked, leaning back in his seat once more. “You spent several days after my last bout as a human, wandering around the house and muttering away to yourself. You inquired about whether or not I would be someone who would take you from this place as well.”

_Perhaps it was because her cat had turned into a human and had been wandering around her house, demanding that she take him back to Uruk._

“Many women have been in your position before. I cannot blame-“

She stopped listening.

In fact, the wine was particularly bitter this evening.

Hakuno downed the glass as the man spoke, ignoring his words and thinking about what to talk about now.

He was much more tolerable as a cat.

Maybe that was why whomever had turned him into a cat had done so. No doubt it was Ishtar or whatever her name was. The goddess had probably taken one look at the man, listened to a split second of his mouth opening, and had decided to do humanity the great service of shutting him up.

To think, he’d almost been fixed.

Her eyes drifted down, her glass being lowered as the other noted her attention.

“Are you listening to me?”

“No.”

Gilgamesh followed her gaze, glancing down to himself before those eyes rolled. His hand began to move, tugging at her slightly to pull her in closer.

Hakuno slipped from his grip, standing up.

“I thought we could talk and I could actually have a decent conversation with you. You don’t seem up for it. I’m going to wash my dishes and head to bed. You can sleep on the couch until you take cat form again.”

“Hold on,” he demanded.

His hand was wrapping around her wrist, pulling her to a stop.

“I am in the mood to indulge this whim of yours.”

She didn’t need to be indulging him in anything right now though. Already, she’d done more than enough. She needed to just go to bed. She could find somewhere else-

“There is something off about you.”

Hakuno blinked.

“Are you a temple maiden?”

She knew this term. She’d seen it used in her books before. What had it meant?

“Hakuno?”

“I don’t think so.”

A chuckle left him now.

“If you were, you would be telling me a simple yes. There is no maybes on the matters of a temple maiden.” He looked so smug about it, shaking his head. “We would not be having this conversation at all if that were the case either.”

Great.

She wasn’t a temple maiden then.

“I’m going to bed, Gil.”

“I do not recall permitting a nickname.”

“I call you G normally.”

Again, that smug look came to his face, his eyes closing in a manner that was ticking her off more than anything.

A moment seemed to pass. 

Then, a moment more.

She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, but the fact that he wasn’t saying anything was bothering her.

“Gilgamesh-“

Those eyes opened again.

Strangely enough, his eyes seemed to be unfocused. The steady pounding of her heart seemed to fill the air, her body standing awkwardly before him.

A single heartbeat was okay.

A second had her aware of their situation- him naked and her standing before him in her lazy clothes, both of them slightly intoxicated by the warmth and love of the wine she’d bought. She didn’t drink. Her good few swigs were enough to have her eyes drifting to his mouth again.

He had lips far too soft looking…

One second, she was breathing on her own. The next, her mouth was slammed against the naked man’s own at her kitchen table. The meal was thrown aside, her behind landing on the table a moment before he was yanking her hair back and kissing her hard.

She couldn’t breathe around him.

Despite how it seemed to make her feel, no air was no air. She was clinging to him, trying to pull back and finding herself falling back to the flat surface of the table.

A hand was pressing to her chest.

His head was tilting, mouth taking more of her own.

Her body seemed to burn in response.

What was she doing?

A leg was parting hers. His hips were suddenly there, the blanket a fluttering of red that seemed to come and go behind him like a flag.

“…How interesting,” the man murmured.

Interesting or not, this wasn’t how she was going to-

His lips were back against her own. She was starting to feel lightheaded from the feeling. Muscle met her hands, a strange electricity sparking through her veins. Her lungs were breathing his air now, but they seemed to like it. Why was she liking this?

She needed to get him off of her. This was going to turn out the same way that it had turned out the month before. She needed to-

Suddenly, there were teeth against her neck. There was a flash of pain before she felt his hands-

As fast as he had been on her, he was off.

Gilgamesh pulled back, eyeing her a moment before he stood up.

“No,” he stood up, yanking the blankets from the floor. “You are too distracting. Uselessly so. A woman should know when to assert herself better. You were holding up well, what is wrong with you?”

She could feel her legs open. Hakuno quickly closed them, blushing harder.

“…Better,” he praised, nodding his head. “You desired to go to bed, did you not?”

Bed?

Hakuno slipped off the table, her hand on her neck as the man headed towards her bedroom and the bath.

“Hakuno?” He glanced her way. “You need to gather your energies. Take pride in the fact that your king has deemed it worthwhile to mark you and do nothing else. A man of lesser senses would have taken you like the animal. Come forth.”

“You didn’t need to mark me.”

Why did it look like he was pitying her with that expression?

_Better to not ask and do as he says for now._

She really did need sleep anyway. She could get up early and go to talk to Emiya.

The man’s arms snaked around her shoulders, a low murmur meeting her ears as they moved from the kitchen towards the bedroom.

“What are you mumbling?”

He went quiet.

There was something wrong about the fact that the man was going silent about what he was doing. She had the feeling this was not someone that remained quiet.

_I have a bad feeling again._

“Lay down,” he commanded.

Lay down.

It was hard to do that when he was climbing into bed with her. It was hard to rest when he was pulling her to his chest and holding her there.

Her hands pressed to his chest.

Sleep was the very opposite of what she felt.

_He’d be human all night._

She had a feeling that the night would last much longer than the previous one had.

“Rest, Hakuno,” the devil of a man murmured to her quietly. “I require you rested. We shall see if I was correct.”

Correct about what? He hadn’t said anything.

You know what?

She didn’t want to know.

She had a feeling once she knew, she would be in a world of a mess. The man was already causing trouble. The whole night had become troublesome and she had enough wine in her from her one glass to tell her that the man before her was a lovely candidate for being in her bed-

Yes, it was time to rest.

Hakuno moved her face closer to his person, closing her eyes to cut off the heavy dose of eye candy.

His lips weren’t moving enough to remind her that he was arrogant.

He was not a healthy encounter for anyone.

“Goodnight, G,” Hakuno murmured.

The strange sound of his voice came a moment before speaking to her in something sensible. 

“Goodnight.”


	7. An Awkward Night In

She’d had Emiya stay before once.

It’d been during a late study session, when the others of their study group had left for the night and the snow had begun to pile up. Rin had left first, telling them that she was tired. Rani had complained that there was no point in staying since Rin wasn’t there. Sakura had chased after Rin. And then Emiya? By the time it was time for him to leave, she’d taken one look outside and known that he wouldn’t be able to get home.

She’d curled up in bed, leaving a wide space for Emiya to join her.

They’d slept on opposite sides of this very bed, ending up in the morning with her hair in his face and his hand on her chest.

She’d slept easy with him though.

No hyperfocus, no strange case of insomnia and fatigue going on; just the bliss of setting her head to the pillows and letting the night sweep her away to her dreams.

It hadn’t been like this.

Hakuno didn’t dare open her eyes as they laid in bed together.

She didn’t dare to speak.

The moment her heart rate had calmed and she had gained a modicum of control over herself, the other had moved. She could feel his hands brushing at her hair, holding her against his chest. She could feel him move his hand to her face, brushing a hand along her cheek.

Moments seemed to pass like hours.

Seconds were like years in between them.

Each inch of her skin seemed to have become overwhelmed with nerves, making her notice every single inch of him that was lying in her bed. His warmth was like that of the sun, radiating warmth through her. With him there, she was without the usual desire to get another blanket. She was melting away in bed, touched with a soft caress that had her insides turning to mush.

Gilgamesh just continued to touch her face and her hair.

He continued to hold her in his arms. For some reason, it was unlike any other feeling she had ever felt in her life. It was like…

The only thing she could compare it to was Rin marveling at a new piece of jewelry.

That was exactly what it was like.

Rin would normally run her hands over the gemstone, murmuring softly to the glittering piece of art. Her hold of the newly acquired piece would be so careful, so particular; she would turn down anyone that would want to hold it.

If it was suitable enough, she would wrap the piece in a thick layer of fabrics, tucking it away in the depths of her purse for protection.

_ Gems always hold flaws, _ she’d told her once. _I look for these flaws because they give value to the piece. The fewer flaws, the more perfect the gem is, the less interesting it is._

What did Gilgamesh see when he studied her?

Opening her eyes would have told her more about what was on the other’s mind, but she didn’t dare to do something like that.

She was already feeling warm from the closeness.

The moment his lips pressed to her forehead, she had to fight the urge to look at him even more. She had to stop herself from revealing that she had been awake to notice his affection.

Admitting that felt like it would break whatever spell was happening here.

It felt like it would make him pull back.

And, for some reason, it felt wrong to ruin this. As much as she wanted to rest, she didn’t want to move away from this man.

So she remained in his arms, surrendering herself to this.

The moments continued to pass in the slowest pace possible. Her face soon resting against his chest once again.

Her whole body seemed to simply feel warm, buzzing with more and more energy as the time came and went. Solid arms were around her sides. A pair of legs were tangled with her own, bringing them only that much closer to one another.

It was unfair to compare this to when she had let Emiya stay the night with her.

It was unfair in that Emiya had never been like this. He’d never held her like this. Even when he had been around her all those times, even when they had stayed up late and she’d started to fall asleep; he’d never held her like this man held her. She’d never been held like the world could crumble away. Like she could vanish the moment that she was released.

Her hand needed to move.

Whether she realized what she was doing or just impulsively did it; Hakuno moved her hand, pressing it to the man’s chest.

A hand was moving to cover it. She could feel it pulled up to his face, pressed to a pair of lips that she had felt before.

Sleep.

Hakuno cuddled closer and demanded the rest of herself mentally obey and go to sleep.

She had no choice.

Hours were passing. The time with him as a human were slipping away from them both, never to be reclaimed. He seemed content to remain awake with her. There was nothing else he seemed to do other than hold her to himself and let the night come and go.

She could sense the morning when it began to come.

Her eyes opened, finally unable to keep them closed a moment longer.

The king’s own were closed now, his hand lost in the tresses of her hair. The serious expressions and the frown had lessened, his face almost taking on a boyish charm to it with his bangs in the way.

He was something else.

Stressful came to mind.

Stubborn and talented at saying exactly the words to make someone respond actively to him; Gilgamesh had a knack for throwing her world out of whack.

Thinking that she had just been talking to a regular cat had been worse though.

At least this way, she wasn’t insane. She was the victim of strange and unusual circumstances. She just happened to be saddled through fate with a cat who was actually an ancient king.

It made her wonder bitterly how many of those novels she’d read before with time travel were actually true.

The thick lashes of his fluttered, parting to show his eyes.

Gilgamesh turned his head, sleepily glancing her way and giving a great yawn.

“Good morning.”

His hand tightened in her hair, pulling her in close. His lips moved against her own, rotating them both so that he could be above her.

This was indeed a morning.

A very different one, she thought as she felt her eyes close and her body seem to press perfectly against the king’s own. She could feel his mouth moving on its own, teasing her with the lack of deepening the kiss.

The sun was streaming into the room through the curtains.

“I won’t become human again for yet another month, correct?”

Hakuno had to remind herself to open her eyes. Her gaze looked up at Gilgamesh to find him waiting for her answer.

“You’ll be human again in a month,” she assured him.

“There are things that I need you to procure for me before then.”

Things?

“The sun is coming too quickly,” he cursed. “We will need to use your written texts to understand what we need of one another.”

“Gil-“

He grinned, crouched over her on the bed with his hair disheveled.

“Soon enough,” he told her. “I will allow accolade for estimating my arrival back to my human self. Once you realize what capabilities you seem to have, we shall discuss further plans. Do not wait on procuring the items I recommend.”

The light hit him.

The golden fluff was back, plopping onto her chest and curling up there.

_ He was back. _

G yawned slightly, curling up into a ball and nuzzling against her. She could feel the light continue to creep into the room, but that wasn’t going to do.

Crossing the room, she closed the blinds and pulled the curtains shut. Her body hit the bed again and that was going to be that.

Later, she could consider what she could do to help Gilgamesh.

Later, she could apologize to Emiya and make it up to him.

G was scooting closer, his head ducking under her chin. The cat kicked up a gentle purr, the sound seeming to work like white noise in the background as she closed her eyes again.

Staying up all night in Gilgamesh’s arms had been a bad plan.

So had letting Gilgamesh into her bed to begin with.

It was too late to fight that though.

A thought drifted through her head as she let her eyes closed and her hands wrap around G once again: Despite feeling tired, she felt good.

No aches, no pains; she just felt whole.

The world felt right all around her.

_ You must be magic, Gil,  _ she thought.

Why else would she feel like she was in heaven despite so much chaos around her?


	8. I Am Hakuno, Hear Me Roar

The sun was outside the window, setting over the neighboring buildings as Hakuno opened her eyes.

She’d slept the day away.

That was probably fine. She really hadn’t needed to work today. It was Sunday. No one was going to be looking for her on a day like this. She would have shifts during the week and sometimes on the occasional Saturday, but Sundays were her time.

No classes either.

There was no reason to get up.

The blankets were so warm and inviting. They felt so soft today, with her safely out of the way of the rest of the universe. She could just stay here until the late night and then sneak to the kitchen to snack on some cheese and wine. Maybe she could get some turkey out for G.

Ah, right.

G.

Hakuno glanced over at the cat, yawning softly.

The fluffy grump a ball of golden fleece, majestic and beautiful as ever. He was yawning back at her, scooting a little closer and beginning to lick her cheek. His whiskers tickled at her cheeks. His little paws were pressed to the pillow as he remained close.

He was such an affectionate thing.

“Are you hungry, G?”

Hakuno sat up a little, pulling G closer.

Her eyes closed, her face pressing against his fur. The low rumble from him filled the room with a soft sound that reverberated around her. There was no mistaking the love as he let that sound out so freely. More open and in touch with his emotions than any person she knew, G was truly a gentleman.

A gentleman…

_Shit._

Emiya.

_SHIT!_

Hakuno leaped to her feet, all but dropping G onto the bed as she hurried to find something to wear.

She owed Emiya explanations!

Gilgamesh was hopping down from the bed though, letting out a loud meow as he landed. The tail went up, hair flying in all directions in a wave of golden wisps as he plopped down to the floor. The red gaze narrowed on her before he huffed, waltzing from the room.

There was no time for smoothing the ego. She really needed to get going.

Her pants were thrown on without preamble. Her shirt was the first one that she could find nearby. Shoes were by the door, her coat was put on as Gilgamesh meowed from the living room.

“I’ll be back in a bit!”

She hurried out the door, locking it and running to her car.

Her phone was out and dialing Emiya as she pulled out of her driveway.

“The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please hang up and try your call again.”

“Emiya!”

Damn it.

He normally worked on Sunday evening. She could swing by his workplace with some food and get back onto his good side with food.

That didn’t seem like a bad plan.

She tried dialing again, thinking about food places when the phone picked up.

“Emiya-“

“Hi Hakuno!”

Sakura?

Hakuno pulled over, frowning as she picked up the phone and held it to her ear.

“Hey, what’s going on? I overslept today-“

“Emiya said that you had found someone and that you had a serious relationship happening.” The woman was smiling through the phone. “I’m so happy for you! You should bring him to our next study group.”

She couldn’t exactly do that when the arranger of the study groups was currently having someone else answer the phone. What was going on.

Hakuno shifted in her seat, the amount of energy she felt being stronger than usual.

“Am I missing a session?”

“No, Emiya and I are on a date.”

“O-oh.”

“I’m so excited. He asked me out to dinner and we’ve been together all weekend! You should have seen how well we’ve gotten along. He’s showering right now. Hakuno, I… I mean-“ The woman on the other end of the line was talking a lot. Her voice was racing, her words a slur of eager chatting, but she couldn’t listen.

When had they started to become close like that?

“Did you need something, Hakuno?”

“I-I forgot the homework for tomorrow.”

“Oh! I’ll have Emiya text you it when we get home!”

“Thanks, Sakura.”

She hung up before the other could speak any further. She pressed her phone to her chin, thinking quietly as she sat there in her car.

He’d seen Gilgamesh.

The arrogant king had made it clear that she was taken, going so far as to insult Emiya while he was at it. Since they’d never actually bothered with a relationship, it made sense that Emiya would take this as a sign that they were never going to actually date.

She hadn’t really wanted to date him, but…

“Ugh, what am I thinking?”

She brushed a hand through her hair, glancing at the dashboard of the car.

What time is it?

The car flicked on, the engine coming to life so she could see the digital clock display the time. Her eyes went over the time before she paused.

The keys-

The keys were still in the ignition, but they weren’t turned.

She turned it herself, finding the car making a dissatisfied sound from having the ignition pressured to begin twice.

What on earth…

She glanced around, narrowing her eyes on one of the people walking on the street. The man’s raised brow said that he’d probably heard the car. The look was so strange, between the furrowed brows and the hesitation from walking.

She really hoped he wasn’t staring at her. She didn’t need that right now.

Moments passed.

The man on the street glanced her way a moment longer and frowned, turning his head once more and heading down the street further.

Well, maybe her car was broken.

It was weird that her car had turned on.

_Maybe_ _she had imagined that it had happened._

That must have been it. Shock, confusion, the whole situation with her cat being an ancient and long lost king from a far away country- it was all just getting to her now. Going home and resting was probably the best favor she could do for herself.

That and coffee.

She didn’t even hesitate from walking into the coffee shop, ordering a usual and ignoring the looks from her frazzled hair and haphazard dressing capabilities.

One sip of the coffee said don’t worry about it.

She was an overworked college student.

The sweet taste of expensive syrups, energizing espresso that would be running through her system like a marathon runner, and the fine taste of the milk to smooth everything out was going down nicely as she stepped back out and headed for her car.

She was awake now.

Fully awake.

No more weird occurrences.

…other than Gilgamesh being an ancient king.

Only one weird occurrence now.

Hakuno pressed her hands to the wheel and shook her head, smiling a little. “Car, turn on.”

The engine burst to life, idling in wait for her to reverse from the parking space and head home.

The keys were still in her pocket.

She leaned to the side, feeling the side of the steering wheel where she was supposed to be placing her keys. All that met her hand was the keyhole slot where her keys went.

This was not a newer car.

There was no push to start or voice action.

In fact, she was barely able to have the satellite radio that was popular.

How did I…?

Did Gilgamesh have something to do with this?

Gods, but what was she even asking? Her cat? How would he know how to do anything with her car when he was barely able to understand how the television worked? He’d called it a painting! Plays on a painting, if she remembered correctly.

She had to try something else.

“Car, turn off.”

The car shut off.

Maybe…

Maybe she had this power over technology?

There was no way she could just go home before she knew the extent of this power. She had to try something else.

Climbing out of the car, Hakuno headed down the road.

Just a short walk and then she would head home with her coffee and start making nice with Gilgamesh and thinking about what to do with him.

There were a few plants that were looking a little dry in flowerbeds nearby.

They would look much better in bloom.

Others on the street paused along with her as the blooms began to grow. The small, dying tree was suddenly shoot up higher, its leaves turning a deeper and richer green color before bursting forth with a handful of cherries.

_HOLY SHIT!_

“How did that happen?” a few people asked one another.

“That was cool!”

That was very cool.

Hakuno glanced to another tree nearby, watching it do the same as she focused on it.

So she could turn her car on and she could grow plants better than anyone would have ever expected. No mind reading though.

Although…

A couple people passed her by.

No mind reading.

Damn.

That would have been so useful for school.

She could make the graffiti on the walls of the buildings run down the side of the building like water, puddling on the ground in a dark mass. She could make the windows lose their dust and dirt, giving a clearer picture of what was inside.

More plants.

She made the whole area suddenly bloom and grow forth until it was a lush city center.

Her eyes looked up towards the heavens.

“Rain…”

A drop fell upon her nose.

Then another.

The amount of water had grown enough that the clouds were heavy enough to pour forth rain to the earth. A flash of light here and there went off, followed by thunder as people suddenly hurried to overhangs and to buildings nearby.

As the rain fell, Hakuno looked around in amazement.

She had a cat that had crossed ages upon ages of time.

She had unlocked the mysteries of his curse and probably could put some brainpower into it to resolve the problem.

Now, she was doing magic.

There was no other word for it. Superpowers would imply that she was born to power or somehow had gotten into some kind of weird accident. Superpowers tended to have names that were either ridiculous or impossible to remember. Or impractical.

No, she could just do magic.

She let the rain continue, heading to her car and driving back to her home. The keys never left her pocket. She raised more of the blooms and cleaned more of the area as she let the magic spread through the area. The rain poured down hard as thunder and lightning clashed overhead.

With a wave of her hand, her front door unlocked.

The sheer strength of this was unbelievable.

She’d never deal with a locked door for the rest of her life.

Gilgamesh meowed loudly, running forward and looking up at her. His tail swayed slightly, his eyes narrowing.

“Gil, I can do magic.”

Not a single change other than his tail continuing to sway back and forth.

“No, Gil… Come here.”

She picked the cat up, carrying him to the kitchen and looking up at the ceiling.

“Lights on!”

The lights burst on in the room.

Gilgamesh meowed at her.

He had to be impressed. That was the kind of magic that magicians themselves would have killed to possess. It was the kind of amazing talent that would have blown the minds of skeptics and fanatics alike. Magic was real!

“Let’s make a bath and warm the water with magic next,” she told the cat, carrying him towards her room.

She carried him further into the house, down the hallway towards her room and the master bath.

The world… spun.

Hakuno grabbed the wall, dropping Gilgamesh as she tried to keep herself from falling over. Her vision was blurring around her as Gilgamesh meowed.

“I think I just… need something with caffeine…”

She was suddenly so tired…

Why was she this tired?

The room spun more, those red eyes looking over at her as Gilgamesh hissed and hurried closer.

“I-I’m fine…”

She was fine.

Just… maybe a moment…


	9. Where Did You Go Yesterday?

Her arms were hurting a little.

Hakuno yawned, opening her eyes slightly to see the trimming on the wall on the other side of the hallway. The rug runner beneath her was bunched up a little from sliding on the wood beneath her. The fluffy golden cat curled up near her face was shifting a little, lifting his head and glancing her way.

Wait…

Hakuno frowned as she found herself on the floor.

Sitting up, she groaned a little, rubbing her eyes.

“What am I doing here?”

She should have been in bed.

Actually, she really should be finding out what time it was. She still had a whole day to partake in.

G meowed at her, swatting at her with his tail as he headed down the hallway and leaped onto the coffee table in the living room. The cat began whining loud as Hakuno stood up, bringing her over to his side and earning a growl.

When had he-

“I haven’t fed you.”

He was probably really hungry.

She needed to eat too, come to think of it.

The eggs were on the stove in the next few minutes, some rice in the rice cooker before she was moving back to the living room and sighing tiredly.

It was still early, but she would need to start getting dressed and ready to go out today.

Gilgamesh meowed from her selection of Cuneiform words and books.

“I’m really tired, Gil. Let’s just wait for breakfast to be finished.”

She could use a bit of a nap before then.

In fact, curling up on the couch and doing nothing sounded great. She could lose track of time and just not do anything today. Maybe she could call in and-

But she really didn’t want to call off work.

That would probably end up getting her into trouble with the others. Sakura and Rani would probably wonder where she was.

Gilgamesh meowed again.

“What is it?”

The cat glared at her, earning a soft sigh before she let the cards and the cuneiform once more cover her table.

Immediately, the fluffy cat was bouncing about the table, pawing at one word at a time before she set it in front of herself at the bottom of the table.

[You] [idiot].

“Gilgamesh, I’m tired. I won’t do this if you’re going to just insult me.”

The cat was still pawing at the next card.

She moved them slowly, reading the next bit.

[Magic] [limit]

“Magic limit?”

The cat meowed at her again.

Magic- She’d been doing magic last night! Of course!

The whole situation came rushing back in a flood of memories. The rain, the car starting itself, the fact she could lock and unlock her doors. She’d made the entire city center come into bloom for once, making a whole scene of greenery for the world to look upon. She’d done so much that she hadn’t actually thought about limits.

There had just been adventure and excitement.

Gilgamesh pawed at a few more cards.

[Careful] [Magic] [to take] [strength]

Magic takes strength.

It was probably like a muscle then. Too much pressure and she could end up harming herself rather than getting herself into shape. Hakuno nodded to the man, trying to think a little more about this.

“I’ve never done magic before.”

That tail simply fluffed up, the arrogant look on the cat’s face no doubt making up for the fact that Gilgamesh could not simply smile that way as a man.

He looked about the table again before patting at another card.

[Me]

Him?

Had he done something to her to make her able to use magic?

It would no doubt take hours to get him to explain what he had done and that was just as a man. As a cat, she could see herself being trapped here for days, sitting around waiting for card after card, finding Gilgamesh making her stop to write new words from her books onto notecards.

There was the slightest feeling that her floor would soon become covered in more of the cards and simple words before she knew it.

The rice cooker in the other room was chiming.

She could see that the lid of the pan on the stove was already steaming up.

“Give me a moment, Gil.”

Breakfast was not large and she gave more of the eggs to Gilgamesh, but they were soon settled in with their food and the cards yet again.

She watched the cat circle around the cards on the table, his tail swishing back and forth.

It was cool to be magical, but that really didn’t make too much sense.

If Gilgamesh could do magic, then why couldn’t he just transform himself into a human and talk to her like a human being? Why go through the process of letting her become a magician of sorts? Along with that, what was there stopping him from finding other magicians and opening a pathway to the past?

Gilgamesh meowed again, patting more cards as he munched on some egg.

[to Listen] [Careful] [magic] [limit]

So she needed to listen to him and be careful about those magic limits?

“I think I understand.” Hakuno glanced at the rest of the cards on the table, wishing that Gilgamesh at least knew how to read her language. If that were the case, she could just set up her computer and let the cat have at it with her keyboard.

Maybe when he became human, she could devote time to teaching him.

One night a month would become tedious though.

[Where] [you] [went]

“Hmm? You mean yesterday?”

Gilgamesh nodded, waiting.

“I went to go meet with Emiya. I owed him an explanation.”

The growl was not lost on her.

“He was on a date so I couldn’t meet with him anyway. Besides, I don’t know how to explain that I have an ancient king in my home that is a cat most of the month anyway. Your secret is safe.”

But that didn’t stop the foul mood that her cat was in now. Gilgamesh was heading back over to his dish of eggs, taking a bite while still somehow continuing his glowering.

He munched quietly, keeping those red eyes narrowed.

“I ended up just getting something to drink and returning here after a walk.”

It just happened that she had used magic during that entire walk to the point of excessiveness and had collapsed on her hallway floor only to wake up a bit ago. Now that she had a bit of food and sleep done, she felt better. Not great, but she was making progress.

By the end of the day, she would feel like she’d done something today and she would feel back to normal.

Gilgamesh finished his eggs and moved forward, nudging one of the cards her way.

[to stay]

Stay.

“I have to leave. You know this. It’s a weekday. I’ll be back in the evening.”

The cat was shaking his head though.

Once again, his paw smacked at the card, earning another headshake.

“I can’t stay today. I will be able to stay this weekend.”

He swished his tail, growling once again. He did this like she would somehow be able to wave her hand and make all her responsibilities just vanish into thin air. He did this like she could somehow merely avoid all the world of responsibility before her.

“I have to work to make money and I have to go to school to get a better job.”

The cat looked at her a moment before looking to the cards.

[magic]

“Gilgamesh, I can’t do magic to pay bills.”

Show business was not her forte. It wasn’t even near her strengths.

[Treasure] [to bring]

She shook her head.

That line had made no sense whatsoever.

The cat was already moving though, looking around at some of the other cards a moment before he was hopping down. The cat ran in circles, meowing at her to come to the kitchen area.

Well, she went, but his dropping markers and running in circles didn’t make any sense at all. She watched him meow at her and run around for a moment before she gave up. There were things she really needed to get done.

Her clothes were changed.

Her bag and her keys were in hand, the cat whining all the way to the door.

“I will be back,” Hakuno promised, pressing her lips to the king’s fluffy head a moment before she shut the front door and locked it.

The traffic was slow.

The classes were slower.

Sakura was babbling on to her as they met for lunch. Rin and Rani were joining soon enough, adding a couple others to the table.

Cu Chulainn settled next to Rin, bickering away with Emiya as the man soon enough showed up.

They had their whole group gathering up.

Hakuno pressed a hand to her pocket, sighing as she figured out what had really been off all day.

“I forgot my phone at home.”

The others shrugged.

“Are you going to go home?” Sakura asked.

“I think I might.”

She was still tired.

The last class had been hard to sit through before lunch. With the afternoon promising to be just as long, she wasn’t sure it was wise to risk going through the entire day.

Getting up and trying to leave was harder than she had thought though.

Emiya was getting up with her.

She could feel him walking next to her, saying something that she paid no mind to.

Hopefully Gilgamesh was alright at the house.

He’d been rather insistent about running around the kitchen.

She would have to find a way to make this up to him. He was probably bored around the house. She hadn’t really left the television on either. There wasn’t a whole lot that a cat could do around the house. A human being would go insane without things to do.

He seemed above trying to clean himself and act as a cat would too.

“Hakuno.”

Hakuno paused, glancing over at Emiya.

“About Sakura…”

Sakura?

What was-

“Sakura and I thought we would try a date.”

“Right. You were dating yesterday.”

It was hard to care about this man’s dating life when there was magic flowing through her veins and she was capable of doing things that others would only ever dream about. She was tempted to use her magic here, but that probably wouldn’t be wise.

“It doesn’t mean-“

“Hey, Emiya?”

The man paused.

“Do you know anything about magic in ancient Sumer?”

She could have slapped him for less of a reaction. Emiya stared at her, stilling as his face spoke volumes.

“You’re asking about magic?”

“I got caught up studying last night and I’m exhausted today,” she half-fibbed. “I thought you may know something about it.”

“No, I’m planning to transfer out of that class.”

“I guess we won’t need to study together then.” She would need to focus on studying more with Gilgamesh. No doubt, the king could help her keep her grade up. Who better to teach her than the great king of Uruk?

“Are you feeling well, Hakuno?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were with that man the other night. You’ve been missing get togethers. You seem more and more distracted as of late. I’m sensing that something is wrong.”

“I’ve been… I’ve been talking to this guy that you saw the other night for a while.”

Emiya nodded, waiting.

_Make Emiya’s phone ring._

The man’s phone began to chirp, distracting him enough that Hakuno could excuse herself from his side and hurry towards the door.

She didn’t know how to explain the man, but that was fine.

When in doubt, she could just use magic.

She’d call in sick when she got home.

Maybe she’d even turn on another ‘painting’ play.

Gilgamesh really seemed to enjoy television.


	10. Magic Effects

Returning home, Hakuno found Gilgamesh waiting on the windowsill.

Those red eyes followed her to the door. His fluffy body floofed a moment before he was batting his paw at the blinds and freeing himself from their barricade between him and the house. The cat gracefully bounced from the windowsill to the entryway table. Then from table to the floor of the living room.

And then he was meowing.

Again.

She didn’t need cards to know that the cat was meowing because he wanted to speak to her. He wanted to ask why she’d gone and why she was back early and what she had done and, by the time she was finished with answering those questions, she was sure he would have a handful of new questions that he would like to demand answers for.

Rather than bothering with that, Hakuno moved to the kitchen and grabbed a bag of turkey from the fridge. She waved the bag a moment, watching those ruby colored eyes drifting to the baggie.

The pupils dilated with intrigue.

_Reprieve._

The desire to answer questions and handle real life were so slim right now that any break she could manage was one she grasped with both hands. She grabbed something for herself to drink and brought Gilgamesh to the living room once more, settling under a blanket on the couch.

She treated the fluff of a cat to his just desserts, watching the cat simply begin to purr and flop onto his side. He partook in the turkey like a fish to water, opting soon enough to rolling into the crook of her arm and gazing up to her.

Her hand went to his chin, a series of scratches earning the most contented look that the cat was probably capable of giving.

Sleep greeted them like an old friend.

When they awakened, the house was dark and Hakuno carried the cat towards the bathroom.

Tonight, she was just a cat owner, home from a tiring day and in need of a nice relaxing bath. She turned on the Bluetooth speaker and turned on some classical music. She let Gilgamesh pounce into the water, happily swimming around a moment before he looked up to her in expectation.

They soaked for ages, until the water began to grow cold and they could no longer remain in the water without developing a cold.

Then, it was time for the blowdryer.

Hakuno found herself watching the golden cat fluff right back out, his chin tilting up as those eyes closed and he turned his head this way and that.

G had always been such a fan of the hairdryer. She combed him as he let himself be dried, working some grooming spray into his fur to keep the hair from matting.

Then, when he was done, she remained on the floor with him, working on her own hair as the cat rolled around on the towels and purred some more.

Together they went for a late night snack and a drink.

Then it was time for more laziness. They returned once more to the television, watching the latest episode of their show. The snack of candy and turkey bits depleted too quickly and, ultimately, so did their ability to be awake. Hakuno found herself soon enough clicking off the television and pulling her friend to the bedroom.

She’d had her cat for two months now. Two months of this as a routine, where the only thing that had been on her mind for a while was how much she really enjoyed being a cat owner. Knowing that Gilgamesh was a human being as well… knowing that he would probably find a way to become human and leave…

Maybe she’d get another cat.

It took two days to get out of the fatigue funk.

Two days of lounging on the couch, two days of tossing turkey Gil’s way whenever he was going to get after her, two days of dangling strings and hair and chains over the cat’s head and watching him become infuriated with himself at becoming so caught up in playing with her; she wasn’t sure what really changed on the third day, but the world had passed without so much as the batting of an eye.

Sakura invited her to a study group.

Rin complained to her for hours about Cu Chulainn.

Cu Chulainn pulled her aside and asked for some advice about Rin.

Emiya and her returned to their usual study lunches.

And work?

She found herself shelving books and checking out books for students at the front of the library a great number of times. As the people came and went, she busied herself with the periodicals and textbook catalogues.

The weekend was around before she had finished coming to her senses.

There was just one slight, tiny difference to her life this week compared to the rest of her life…

_Magic!_

She would wave her hand a bit when she was going to a locked door. She slipped through the ID scanner to get into the library. She would use a bit of magic to push Emiya’s chair the first couple times they sat together.

He’d gotten a little self-conscious about that, but she wasn’t going to do it too much.

She couldn’t get her dress zipper down?

Magic.

The food could use a little warming up?

Magic.

See, the fatigue, as she’d reasoned out, was no doubt from the magnitude of what she’d done before. Bringing life to dying plants was asking for a great amount of energy. That was like turning back time. If she was going to do that, she needed to be prepared for such backlash.

Little tricks were fine though.

She got a papercut?

Magic.

Computer started to be stubborn?

Magic.

Magic was turning out to be the ultimate tool for her day to day life. Even once the weekend came, she found herself using magic here and there around the kitchen.

Gilgamesh started meowing from the living room.

“G? Are you hungry or something?”

The cat sat on his cards, patting one of the cards incessantly.

[Fool]

The speed and amount of times he was patting at that card said more than the card did.

“What’s going on? Why am I a fool now?”

The cat looked around a moment before tapping at the two cards.

[magic][consequences]

“There’s no real consequence when I use it on small things. If I keep using it sparingly, then I won’t get tired like I did last weekend.”

The cat growled at her.

“It’s fine, Gilgamesh.”

He started to move again, but she found his ear and began to scratch just at the inner part of his ear. Those eyes closed, his foot thumping against the glass of the table as he began to involuntarily purr.

He may be a king and he may be cursed, but right now he was just a cat.

Gilgamesh could no more resist ear and chin scratches than he could resist his brushing time.

Taking a break from cooking, she found herself pulling the cat into her arms and pulling out the combs and brushes, watching those red eyes grow closer and closer to closing. He purred until he was fast asleep in her lap, the poor cat unable to handle this level of attention.

Her magic would be fine.

Calming the nervous and worried cat was something she could manage. When he became human again, she would have him teach her a little more about how to manage the logistics of magic and she would help return him to his time. Maybe she’d even enjoy a little bit of a stroll through the wilds of ancient Uruk before returning here and resting up.

She could flash there and back without missing more than a second.

Yeah…

Yeah, that’d be cool.

She wrapped one of the blankets around the cat and went back to work, cooking dinner and reviewing some of her homework. Emiya knocked on the door a little after seven, coming in with Sakura and settling at her table to work together on a project.

It was halfway through the project that Gilgamesh was groggily getting up.

“Oh!” Sakura beamed, moving from the table and kneeling before the cat. “Good morning, sunshine! Did you sleep well?”

The cat stared at her a moment before turning his attention to the rest of the room.

Those eyes fell to Emiya.

Gilgamesh turned his head and fluffed his tail, heading back for her room.

_He’s very put out._

“Hakuno, you have the most temperamental cat I’ve ever seen,” Emiya complained.

“You should get one of those backpacks for cats,” Sakura told her. “You can stick your cat in them and wander around with them with you. Gorgeous is so pretty. I bet the library would let you take him in with you.”

It was true that her boss had seen a picture she’d taken of Gilgamesh drooling onto her leg and had become quite taken with him. Kiara had thought that the cat was ‘darling’ to quote the woman.

Still…

It didn’t seem wise to take a cat that insisted on using Cuneiform cards to talk to her around the city. The last thing she needed was to be setting out the cards in public and playing psychic with her cat.

Because no one would ever believe that her cat was really saying things to her.

Sakura glanced into her living room, frowning.

“Something wrong?”

“Hakuno, are you learning a language?”

_Shit._

She must have left the cards out.

“I was trying to learn a little for class. I thought it would help with my essay,” she lied, turning the page in her book and clearing her throat. “It didn’t work. Anyway, the next chapter, Sakura.”

“Right…”

The woman returned to the table, working for a while longer before she was yawning.

With a quick bid goodnight, Hakuno waved the two off, closing her door a moment before-

“SAKURA!”

A loud crash could be heard outside. Throwing the door open, Hakuno hurried outside, noting Emiya’s body lying crumbled near the telephone poll. Sakura was lying on the front lawn, slowly getting up.

A car was crashed nearby, but…

Her feet carried her straight to Emiya. Her heart was pounding as she saw something white protruding from Emiya’s dark slacks. There was something pooling around him as her hands pulled him closer. The man himself was not moving.

The pace of her heart was threatening to let her heart burst from her chest as she felt the coldness creeping into the man’s body. Sakura was crying towards Emiya, sobbing as she cried for him to answer.

The urge to hurl at the very sight was strong, but she didn’t have time for that. Sakura was starting to get up, she would be coming over soon.

By then, before she could get help, Emiya would die.

These were severe injuries. There was blood everywhere. The car must have been speeding in the neighborhood when it had hit him. There was nothing they could do to save him at this point. Calling an ambulance would take too long. Emiya was already starting to lose color.

“I’m calling an ambulance!” Sakura called, her voice cracking.

She turned her eyes to Sakura, her eyes drifting to her front doorstep.

Gilgamesh sat quietly, his tail swaying back and forth.

_She could use her magic._

It had been a while since she had done anything big. She’d revived all those plants in the center of the city.

No one had seen how Emiya looked…

She could hear Gilgamesh meowing as she pressed her hands to Emiya’s person. Her eyes closed, her mind focused on the one task at hand.

_Heal._

She demanded mentally for the bone to go back to where it belonged, listening to Emiya cry out for a moment. She demanded for the inner bleeding to stop. She could see his eyes opening, but her eyes closed again as she tried to push the healing further.

He needed to survive.

He needed to be here for Sakura.

Sirens were going off in the distance.

“Hakuno!”

She didn’t open her eyes, she couldn’t yet.

“HAKUNO!”

She could feel a fluffy body leap into her arms, a set of claws digging into her thigh. Her concentration broke. The world swayed around her as Sakura pulled her away from the body and Gilgamesh growled at her.

Once again, the world around her was spinning.

The medics were stopping on her doorstep, rushing forth to the car and to Emiya as the police arrived.

Sakura was picked up, carried carefully to the ambulance nearby.

Emiya was still glancing her way as he was placed onto a stretcher and told to lay back and relax.

And the car…

Hakuno could see the body being pulled out, having hit the tree nearby and no doubt died upon impact. The world was a blur of color and sounds as the police tried to ask her questions and Gilgamesh held onto her tight.

“I didn’t see what happened…” She shook her head, trying to focus. “I ah…”

They helped her back into the house, pouring her some water and telling her to rest.

Rest…

_If I hadn’t saved Emiya, he would have been dead like that person out there just now._

The universe had aligned just right for her to save his life. If it hadn’t been for having Gilgamesh, if she hadn’t learned that she had this power; she would have lost one friend tonight.

It had been the right thing to do.

No matter what, it had been the right thing to do and she wouldn’t regret it.

Her feet wavered beneath her.

She idly used a bit of magic to lock the front door of the house and felt her vision swim.

Once again, she could hear Gilgamesh meowing incessantly. She could feel those claws getting after her, trying to get her to get up.

_Sorry, Gil._

She needed a little bit of rest.

Just a while.


	11. Peace Resumes

She could feel something warm against her arms.

Opening her eyes, Hakuno could see a fluff of golden fur near her face. A slightly prickly warmth was stroking at her cheek in tiny strokes, leaving her to frown a little until she realized what it was.

“G-Gilgamesh…”

His face was moving in closer, tongue continuing on. The softest of sounds escaped him as he tried to cuddle in closer.

It was different from his usual complaints.

Everything was hurting. Her stomach felt like it was sour, her body felt like it was running a fever, there was sweat all over her person… She shifted, holding her stomach as she did.

The room around her was a sty.

The fridge hung open, beeping softly to let her know that things were not going to be in good condition anymore. A bag was open on the floor, the turkey that had been inside long gone. The cabinets were hanging open, the sink running strongly as she noted that there were broken dishes on the floor from the night she had had Sakura and Emiya over.

Movement made the pain blanch down her leg.

In front of her, Gilgamesh meowed softly and pawed at her.

If there was the ability to speak available, she would have told Gilgamesh that she was fine. She would have taken a moment to ignore her pain as best she could and simply pet her cat for a bit. She would make sure that he knew that she was okay and that things were going to be fine.

Instead, her mouth opened and what came out went in another direction, coloring the floor in a manner that had her cringing inside.

Gilgamesh backed up, lowering his ears at the sight.

She had to agree. It really wasn’t a pretty picture.

Crawling to the bathroom was a chore that she would never wish upon the worst of people. Every inch felt like it was pulling at her nails. The cold tiles beneath her body were frigid, to the point of physical pain when her skin made contact. The carpet? It was no better in the hallways. She wasn’t sure which poison was worse: the stabbing carpet fibers or the blistering tiles.

Even when she was in the bathroom, she found no reprieve. Sitting up required an effort that made her vision swim and her stomach grumble like the mightiest storm. The water took eternity to warm under her hand, leaving her to note the filth beneath her nails. She leaned against the porcelain, praying for rest only to realize.

She was covered in dried blood.

There was blood matted in Gilgamesh’s fur as well.

“Gil…”

Hakuno looked over at the cat, her breathing coming in a bit ragged. She held her arms out and pulled the cat close.

Her lips pressed against him.

Everything hurt. Everything was horrible and nothing was going right. Who knew how long time had passed.

The only thing she knew for sure was that Gilgamesh was here. She wasn’t alone.

Tears were coming to her eyes as she held the cat close.

Gilgamesh was squirming in her arms, twisting and turning until he could look her in the face. She could feel his body moving in closer to hers, his face nuzzling against her skin.

“Let’s clean ourselves up,” she murmured to him.

Time came and went.

She didn’t want to do a damn thing until the pain was gone and the sickness in her bones went away so she didn’t. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling tiles, counting them with the patience of a saint. She followed the lines, following their paths as they ran in parallel to other lines. All the while, her body seemed to sink slightly beneath the warmth and the bliss. Numbness came before she felt a heat in her bones. Her hands remained at her side for a long while as Gilgamesh decided how best to join. Then, once he was in, she lay for the longest time with Gilgamesh curled up on top of her. She could see the cat leaning his head against her, taking in the reprieve.

How long had she been asleep?

Were Sakura and Emiya alright?

Everything still hurt when she climbed out of the tub, but her legs only wobbled. The ability to walk and to function was back. She wrapped a robe from behind the door around her person, taking a few minutes to blowdry Gilgamesh before she headed for the kitchen.

Cleaning was longer than the bath.

She had to stop at times, panting and leaning against the wall.

She ordered a soup and a couple sandwiches from a restaurant nearby, opting to give Gilgamesh both the sandwiches when the food arrived.

Time didn’t matter. Everything hurt and she was exhausted beyond all reason. They went to her room as the sun set.

Once again the two of them were simply existing, snuggling close to one another. She ran a brush through Gilgamesh’s hair as he ate his food and curled up close to her side.

“You took care of me the best you could while I was out, didn’t you?”

The cat looked to her, purring quietly.

“I’m a stubborn fool. Sorry about that.”

That was alright though.

They spent the night resting properly. And, in the morning, Hakuno checked the day and sent out information about what had happened. Her friends had been in an accident and she had been “caring” for them.

Work was fine.

Classes were going to be bothersome when she returned next week.

Hakuno glanced to Gilgamesh and opted for another day of resting.

This was turning into a bad habit really.

She moved the cards on the table to the floor, writing out more words onto the cards and organizing them by part of speech. While she worked, she could see Gilgamesh patting at some of the cards, talking to her.

[Health] [you]

“I’m doing alright, Gil. I just need to take things easy.

[Fool]

“I know. I shouldn’t have gotten that desperate. If something like that had happened to you, I wouldn’t have thought twice about doing it though.”

[He][useless]

Hakuno rolled her eyes, continuing to make more words for Gilgamesh to be able to use.

[He][useless]

Gilgamesh was patting his paw incessantly on the second card, watching her with an undying focus.

“If I hadn’t saved him, then Sakura would have lost the man she loved.”

[Useless]

“Maybe, but I made that choice.”

She wouldn’t regret it either. She knew for sure that, if worst came to worst, she would be able to protect and heal those around her that needed help. She was strong enough to handle saving a life. It had only cost her half a week to manage as well.

If doctors or hospitals could do the same, they would have had a different world around them. She wanted to reread as much as she could about the Sumerians and about other cultures as well, try to find more evidence of healing and magic amongst the texts so she could improve. If she couldn’t learn from remaining writings, then she would have Gilgamesh teach her. He had started this magic within her, hadn’t he?

Gilgamesh meowed again, gathering her attention back before he was prowling amongst the cards.

[Careful] [magic][limit]

“I’m going to be careful. I won’t use my magic for anything more than unlocking doors or locking them like I did before I passed out.”

Gilgamesh nodded, looking around the cards again.

[You][strong]

Was… was that a compliment?

That was surprising.

“Are you feeling alright, Gil?”

The cat growled at her a moment before looking through the card collection again.

[Fool]

[Fool][Fool][Fool]

His foot continued to tap at the card and Hakuno laughed, shaking her head. Her hands grabbed one of the rope toys from nearby and waved it over the cat’s head, watching him struggle with his basic instincts again.

There was one more thing other than more cards that she wanted to do.

Well… Make it two.

She took a picture of the cards on the floor and printed off a sheet of thick paper with all the cuneiform and regularly written words on them for Gilgamesh to have.

Why would he need this?

Her purchase came the first day of the weekend, the bag and its window intriguing the cat a moment before she explained.

“Since you don’t seem to like to be around the house all day when I leave, I’m going to carry you around in this bag. It’s big enough that I can carry you around and I have this,” she held up the paper, “in case you think you need to talk to me during the day.”

She would say it was a game that she and Gilgamesh had developed.

Dogs could shake hands and lay down. She could pretend that Gilgamesh liked to play “pat the paper” sometimes.

[Good]

Monday came.

Hakuno found herself feeling like a fool walking around with Gilgamesh in her bag.

Her professor took one look and rolled his eyes, turning back to the board and beginning his lecture. She could sense Rin and Rani nearby, glancing into her bag to see Gilgamesh looking back at them.

The Sumerian class had Gilgamesh perched on his hind legs, his eyes following along as the teacher began to explain the gods and their importance upon history.

The look on the cat’s face, the way he fell at the example of how Gilgamesh was slaughtered for his lack of belief in the gods; Hakuno couldn’t help but feel bad.

“There’s of course, no Sumerian gods,” the teacher explained. “He was most likely killed by Enkidu, who was the one to take over the kingdom after he vanished. The fact that the people claim that he disappeared and the fact that Enkidu made it a point to say that the king had vanished no doubt was to keep the people from rising up against him.”

Hakuno unzipped the backpack, reaching in and stroking Gil’s head gently.

She shared her sandwich with the cat during lunch and listened to the others talk about visiting Sakura and Emiya during the upcoming weekend.

“Hakuno.”

Hakuno glanced over at Rin, pausing from giving bits of her sandwich to Gilgamesh.

“How bad was it? The hospital wouldn’t let us go see Sakura and Emiya and we haven’t been able to find out any information.”

“I don’t know… The car came fast.”

The two women nodded, their faces turning glum.

“…The doctors said that Emiya ran out to save Sakura.”

“She’s lucky he did,” Rin pointed out to Rani. “If he hadn’t, we would have completely lost Sakura. She should have been paying attention to the road before running across the street to her car. Or she should have just parked in Hakuno’s driveway.”

Rani nodded. “Still… Poor Sakura. She probably feels bad that Emiya was hurt.”

That sounded like Sakura.

She really cared about those close to her. She would have been devastated if Emiya had died. Again, it just made knowing the magic that she knew that much better. It just made her actions that night much more worthwhile.

“What’s this?”

Hakuno paused from her thoughts, glancing up to find Cu Chulainn leaning over her bag and Gilgamesh eating.

She shrugged.

“I decided to steal an ancient Sumerian king from his time after learning he was cursed into becoming a cat. I shoved him into a spaceship like backpack and have been toting him around the campus in order to learn how to properly conquer the campus and recreate an entirely new Uruk to replace the old one.”

Gilgamesh stared at her, the food dropping from his mouth.

Cu Chulainn began chuckling.

“Yeah? How’s that working out?”

“The problem with cursed people is that you can’t just stop the curse on a whim.”

Rin groaned, shaking her head.

“You two idiots are terrible at conversation. We’re talking about Emiya and Sakura here!”

“That’s an oddly specific joke, Hakuno,” Rani complained. “At least pretend you were paying attention to Rin’s whining.”

She waved a hand, picking up the food that Gil had dropped and holding it up for him again.

He ate slowly, eyeing her carefully as he ate.

Cu shrugged a little.

“Just do what they do in all the books and shit. Find the source of the curse or true love or somethin’.”

The source?

That was a thought.

She hadn’t really learned about the curse much from Gilgamesh. They hadn’t actually known how the whole thing worked until she’d estimated when he would become human again.

Finding out the source…

“Hakuno… HAKUNO!”

She jumped, her gaze darting to Rin.

“Are you going to head to your next class?”

“Right.”

She pushed Gilgamesh into his bag and gave a nod to the group, hurrying off to the first class of the afternoon.

Things… quietened.

She wasn’t sure whether life had just realized how absurd it had become or if she had just had a stroke of luck, but nothing was going on. Instead, she delved into the world of human to animal transformations in the library.

Lots of werewolves, she found.

Gilgamesh curled up on her lap in the evenings, purring away quietly as she would stroke his fur and read on.

The weekend was around again.

Hakuno found herself making up an excuse and passing on the hospital visit.

“I can’t go see them right now,” she told Gilgamesh. “You and I are working on resolving your curse.”

Besides, going to see the two would just remind her of all the things she’d seen that night. The blood running over her hands as she tried to stop Emiya’s bleeding, the bone sticking out, causing some of Emiya’s screaming in her ears as she started to heal him.

It was little surprise when she got a text saying that Sakura and Emiya had been discharged and were at Emiya’s home.

Neither of them had been terribly wounded by the time the paramedics had arrived.

The relief of knowing they were curled up in a proper bed was nice though. Hakuno gave a small smile to Gilgamesh and picked the cat up. “Steaks tonight?”

They dined like kings, enough so that Gilgamesh was flopping to his side once done and sprawling his limbs out.

Her research continued into the week.

There was nothing really worthy of note though. Nothing went back to Babylon or Mesopotamia that she could find. Nothing worthwhile anyway. A few stories were going that far back, but the genre of fiction made them highly questionable.

Her eyes drifted to the calendar as she found Friday upon them.

Friday the first.

Dinner was ordered, her shift was traded off.

Hakuno took a quick shower as soon as they got home and waited, watching the windows as the sun began to sink over the horizon.

They were both watching.

Waiting…

Three…

Two…

A flash of light came from beside her and the king returned.


	12. A Way Out

From the moment he had hands, from the very second his body changed from that of a feline to that of a human, and he was pulling the woman into his arms. He was picking her up, placing her on his lap and pressing himself against her. His face was buried within the silken tresses that were her hair, breathing in every single bit of her that he could muster until he found his face pressed against her neck.

He could smell the scent of her soaps as he held her. He could feel the warmth of her skin, the softness now without any hair or nonsense between them. He could run his hands along her body.

She was so small.

She was so frail.

He’d known that his state of being as a cat wasn’t permanent. He’d known that he would become a human again on this night in particular… But there was something about thinking it and actually having it happen. There was something astounding about being suddenly so much taller and stronger again.

“Gilgamesh.”

Those brown eyes were looking up into his as the woman pulled back. This fool in his arms actually dared to pull herself away enough to be able to gaze upon him.

He pressed his forehead to hers, watching her simply live right there in his arms.

_ She had come so close to dying before. _

He hadn’t known for sure whether or not she would die. He’d only known that nothing would awaken the woman. There’d been crimson coloring the floors before. He’d watched her fall and heard the sound of her body hitting these uselessly cold and hard floors. He hadn’t been able to do a damn thing about it either. The smell of iron and metal from the pools of vileness had permeated the air. He’d found himself horrified by the fact that he felt hunger in his gut, beginning to gnaw at him as he had lay next to her unconscious body.

He’d meowed at her.

He’d scratched at her.

He’d bit her, although she didn’t seem to have ever been aware of that fact.

Days. Perhaps an eternity had forced him to forage through the cabinets and the cold box. Like that of a beggar, he’d been forced to survive off of whatever lay within these four walls she called home. He’d found himself facing the doors with impossible handles, the cold box of slippery shelves, and the containers of unforgiving forbiddenness. The only reprieve he had found was the bag of meats. 

Yet still, it taunted him, tearing between his teeth and its contents being paltry at best. He’d been forced to ration it.

He’d guarded her body, waiting for something to come to try to take her.

His fur had become filthy.

He’d begun to smell more and more of death.

_ And he hadn’t been able to even hold her in his arms. _

Her passing off that time had been even more of an insult. She’d simply cleaned herself up, cleaning the house and resting more.

“You damn fool,” he breathed.

She stared at him, only able to do so for a moment.

She was truly the fool.

Only a fool would find themselves the most unworthy soul to feel that they had to save. Only a fool would run out into the night after such an ungodly sound. Only she would sit there and press her hands to his body, forcing all of her mana to go into healing the man. A magician without the proper knowledge of how to use her talents, Hakuno had decided to roll the dice of fate again.

Any god could have noticed her power emanated through the cosmos.

Any rogue magician or mage could have sensed her mana being used in such a manner.

His hands felt so good on her face. Holding her on his lap, holding her close to him, he could feel the warmth of her person. He could see the traces of confusion forming in the appearance of the faintest of frowns.

_ He needed to focus on talking to her. _

The thought in his head and the movement of his body were out of synchronicity apparently. He was no more able to control himself than he was able to turn straight back into a cat in that very moment.

His lips pressed to hers.

His hands tangled in her hair and behind her back.

In that moment, he kissed like that of a starving man. He craved whatever air he could steal from her lungs and then he craved more. He needed this more than he could scream to the gods right now.

Her hands were moving as well though.

Her lips pressed back against his own, deepening what he had started. He could see those eyes look up at him after a moment.

“Gil…”

He had to pick her up.

Once more, he was on two legs without it being a feat. He was standing on his own two feet and he was holding someone in his arms. He could carry things. He could use these hands.

Tossing her onto the table, he delved his hands into her hair and tilted her head, forcing her to kiss him again.

He had so much more capability. He was able to do so much more.

His hands ripped the heinous attire out of his way, his hands wrapping around her body underneath the fabrics to find a belt around her chest, holding down her chest and keeping it out of his view.

Fine.

He didn’t need those right now. He needed contact. He needed skin to skin.

His focus became the defilement of those lips, the task of dragging her into the depths of temptation. He simply lost himself in the feeling of her body melting away under his own.

_ That fool had gotten herself nearly killed saving someone unworthy. _

Gilgamesh closed his eyes, letting his kiss become almost punishing.

_ She had nearly left him alone in this world. She’d almost died and made him lose that which was most precious. _

Everything depended on this one, small woman.

He pulled her closer, feeling her tremble.

_ Mine. _

He’d decided before that he would take her back with him. Make her a wife or a handmaiden in his world. This world was ill suited to her needs.

She would be in his bed. He’d decide from there what was best.

His lips pulled back, feeling her follow after him a bit with her mouth.

The smirk was unavoidable. She was chasing after his affections, whether by choice or by an unknowing need for his attentions. She had her hands on his hips, her head tilted back.

A knock came at the door.

“Don’t let him-“

“It’s food. I ordered food to be delivered, remember?”

The woman glanced down at herself a moment before groaning. “Can you grab my robe from the bathroom door?”

Bathing room robes.

Right.

It was a chance to walk. It was a chance to be at the proper height again. That was why he went, returning with her robe and letting her belt it over her clothes. She motioned him into the other room before opening the door and talking to the person there.

The smell of steak met his senses.

The diet of felines was heinously lacking. The moment that he was back in Uruk, all of the lions were being fed a feast. They needed to dine properly. They needed to know the pleasures of a full stomach. There were no doubt a few prisoners and criminals that deserved death. What better way of going than by feeding the voracious needs of cats.

His eyes fell to the bag in the woman’s hands, his stomach already twisting into knots from hunger.

“Alright,” Hakuno declared. “Dinner time.”

Hakuno moved to the seat beside him, handing him the strange platter with his meal on it, handing him a couple of utensils to rip apart his food with.

Odd, but he would dine first.

The moments filled with a tense silence, interrupted by the sound of Hakuno pouring them wine and the little sounds of silverware and glass clinking. 

“I listened to you discuss your findings,” Gilgamesh finally began, feeling the gnawing at his gut waning. “You’ve been trying to figure out the method of breaking this curse.”

Hakuno laughed a little, her smile half hidden by her hand.

“What?”

“It’s strange to hear you speak. I’m used to your cards.”

The cards were more for her benefit. They served as a method of communication and as practice now. Since he would end up taking her back with him in the end, she would need to become accustomed to his language.

“I haven’t found much of anything. There was the joke Cu Chulainn made the other day about true love or finding a source to your curse, but-”

He shook his head. “The only way we would find a source is to inquire with the woman who cursed me to begin with. Since we are outside of my time, the practice of going to that bitch goddess would be remarkably difficult.”

“Or impossible.”

He nodded, his eyes watering at the taste of the greens on his platter.

He wasn’t sure what kind of spices and seasonings these mongrels had used, but the taste was like a blanket of warmth against the fiercest chill. It was like every bit of his personal desires and interests had been accessed and catered to, without him needing to speak a word.

It beat the diet of meat only that he had been privy to under Hakuno’s care.

Perhaps he could slaughter some beasts and mongrels as well as throw in something more for his beasts back home.

“So no source,” Hakuno shook her head. “That leaves the true love idea, but that wouldn’t work.”

He had to agree.

Utter nonsense, he was sure. No doubt the fool had been obsessing about the woman that continued to behave as Ishtar would have. Had he seen her weep for her father, he would have assumed the woman was Ishtar herself. Besides, if that were real, he’d have found a woman amongst the collection he’d had in Uruk.

“Do you know of any myths or stories or anything about people turning into animals?” Hakuno asked.

“It’s not… entirely unusual.”

“What do you mean?”

He couldn’t possibly talk until the greens were gone from his plate. He licked at his pronged utensil a moment before setting the platter down and moving to the ‘papers’ that Hakuno was so fond of scribbling upon. He scribbled easily enough on the sheet, finding it exceedingly easy to write on.

“There is a job… a… I do not know the word. Where are those cards?”

Hakuno moved them to his side, allowing him to look at them a moment before he wrote the job down.

“Shepherd?” Hakuno asked. “They tend to farm animals.”

“Ishtar is known as the goddess of love,” he explained, using Cuneiform and watching the woman review his writing. The fact she was recognizing words he didn’t typically use when communicating with her was good. “She’s done this kind of thing before, but the transformations were not reversible.”

“What do you mean?”

He had a timeline of the goddess’ lovers written out now.

“The shepherd is the only case that my priests were able to confirm, but I’ve heard other tales. Ishtar uses the men, drains them of every bit of joy and power, then takes them and changes them. The shepherd into the very beast that ventured after his flock. Supposedly the priest into one of the seven spirits, a demon that travels with Ishkur’s creations.”

“Why would she do that?”

He grunted.

There’d been… thoughts as to why she did that.

Considering that he had been carelessly thrown into the future to be a cat in a foreign land, he had his doubts as to whether she went after ‘threats’ to Uruk.

It was no doubt more of an excuse the priests of her temple had fabricated to make her actions acceptable.

“Alright. So Ishtar’s the goddess of love who morphs people from time to time into beasts and things. There has to be a way that you reverse it. What happened to the shepherd?”

“Slaughtered by his neighbor.”

She winced.

He resumed eating as the woman continued to think and eat.

She was crossing her legs, but her robes were loosening a little as she shifted a little bit here and there. His eyes drifted to her person, drinking in the sight and knowing his body was back for now.

He knew exactly how it felt to lay beside her at night. He knew the way her face looked when the sun rose over the horizon and crept through her windows. Even now, with her cheeks a rosy color and her hair tumbling about her face freely, he still found himself becoming more and more pleased with her. There was always something to amuse or beguile him. She lured him in with her presence.

It was tempting to pull her back into his arms and-

But that could wait.

He had only so long.

It had been so long since he had used his voice.

“Ishtar is a useless goddess, careless and self-centered in every manner. I have no doubt that she thought herself amusing doing this to me.”

“I’m glad I managed to save you.”

Was she?

“Well,” she laughed a little, flashing him a grin. “Other than the fact that I can’t tell anyone without them thinking I’m either insane or goofing around. You saw my lunch group when I said that you were an ancient king that had been cursed into being a cat.”

A fair point.

He looked around a moment as he finished his food, finding Hakuno holding her hand out for the platter and tossing the strange thing into the waste bin.

“This time must have its own myths and legends.”

“We have fairy tales and things. There’s nothing like magic or what I can do in those stories… nothing that would be considered information rather than a great bedtime tale.”

That wasn’t good.

The fact that these humans were abandoning their knowledge in such useless ways… How did they explain the travel of the moon and the sun? How did they explain to themselves the strange way that the world was known to revolve like that of people around their leaders?

“Nothing about curses?”

She shrugged. “If you were cursed to an eternal sleep, I’d say I could kiss you. Or if you lost your shoe, we could chop up your siblings’ feet and realize you were the one I was looking for the whole time.”

His thoughts drifted to the woman’s friend again.

_ How many sibling’s feet had been chopped up due to his pissing on the man’s shoes? _

What a brutal society.

“And animal transformations?”

“Werewolves, I guess, but they turn into the beast for a night.”

“And their cure?”

“It’s lifelong.”

Great.

So, for one night each month, he would become human and be able to interact, living a strange and shortened life as this woman’s pet. Then, becoming too old to move anymore, he would be taken out of his misery or simply die in his sleep.

“There has to be something.”

Something?

He watched her head over to the cabinets, pulling out more of that wine he liked.

The sweet taste was opposite in preference to his beloved liquor from Uruk, but he could drink more. He was permitted alcohol once more and the taste, however sweet, was a welcomed change. He drained his glass and half a second one of this new vintage before looking to her.

“What other myths of curses do you have?”

She stared at him a moment before shaking her head.

“What?”

“We’ve already tried kissing.”

“What does that have to do with your myths?”

She sat back on the couch, yanking her ripped attire carefully from beneath her robes without undressing, tossing them aside a moment before she shook her head.

Her body was swaying a little more as she leaned back.

_ A light drinker. _

“There are a bunch of stories about cursed people being freed because of love. True love’s kiss and all that. But that can’t be the case because you and I have kissed a couple times before.”

“What happens in these stories?”

The woman drank more of her wine, pouring another glass and taking a moment to think. Or- he assumed it was thinking that was going on, since she was blushing further and shaking her head.

“They’re kids’ tales.”

“Did I ask if they were kids’ tales?” He moved onto the couch, enjoying every moment of this. His body could actually function properly like this. He could feel his strength again, the magic and divinity, strangely enough, were proudly flowing through his veins.

It felt good.

“You and I have tried kissing. True love’s kiss is a load of shit,” she told him simply, allowing her face to be tilted upwards.

What was a kiss, though, than the exchange of affections?

The prevalence of these romantic stories, however absurd, had to have something of truth in them. There had to be a reason that they persisted.

“Kiss me with your magic active.”

The thought came out before he could think about it, the woman’s eyes looking up at his.

“You can still use that magic, can’t you?”

“You advised against it. Remember? Magic limits?”

That was because the woman had possessed absolutely no talent for control and had been throwing her magic around like it was wealth.

“Besides, I have to use commands when I use my magic. When I healed Emiya, I-“

He leaned in further, pressing her down against the cushioned seating. He slipped a hand between them, letting his fingers nudge open her robes a bit more.

“Then command your magic to stop the curse.”

“Stop… Would that work?”

He had no idea.

The idea of kissing her was prevalent in his thoughts right now though. That, fighting, setting up proper protections for Hakuno around this building, and stealing her away from this world and back to his own; his mind was a running cycle of the same few thoughts.

She was looking up at him with those big brown eyes and he could feel himself coming closer.

They had time.

The moment her lips met his again, he felt it.

The surge of power was pushing through his veins. The warmth of her mana mingled with his own, making him feel more and more like he could run through the entire kingdom here before returning to this meager home.

He wasn’t sure how long they simply drank from one another’s lips.

He wasn’t sure how long they lost themselves in simply stroking one another and brushing their hands through one another’s hair.

All he knew was that Hakuno was beginning to tire.

Her eyes were drooping a little, her hands falling from his hair to land on his chest.

“Hakuno?”

“I’m okay… I tried to use as much as I could without pushing myself as far as last time.”

That was uselessly worded.

“I just… What time is it?”

“Hakuno, it’s no doubt the early morning at some point.”

Her eyes drifted else where to the room, to the strange green light that varied its design over time. “It’s five in the morning… We’ve been kissing for hours.”

She hadn’t complained.

Even now, she simply leaned against him, closing her eyes and holding his chest.

“I’ll miss brushing you out, but I don’t think I’ll miss your shedding.”

He snorted, watching her begin to fall asleep.

“You need to sleep in your bed, woman.”

“I’m so tired, Gil.”

She was lucky she was so vital to his wellbeing. He wouldn’t have been doing this had she merely been some random woman.

His hands slipped underneath her legs and back, pulling her up against his chest. He could feel her arms wrapping around him, holding him tight as he carried her back to her bedroom. The woman was looking up at him as he pulled her robes off, tossing them aside.

“Gil?”

There was no stopping him, so if that was her intent then she needed to cease now. Gilgamesh climbed into her bed, slipping beneath the covers and pulling her body against his own.

“Gil?”

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“I just wanted to see your face for a while longer.” Her eyes drifted to his. “Maybe listen to you a little longer. It’s hard to communicate without words.”

His body pressed against hers.

He moved his forehead to rest against her own.

“If you keep being my cat, I’ll have to get you a collar so that people know you’re mine.”

A collar?

He snorted.

At this point, he probably could attempt to use his Gates again, bringing valuables back to this woman. They didn’t need a collar for him, but perhaps he could choose a suitable collar for her. One to hang as a wife’s necklace around her collarbone, gleaming to the people of Uruk that she was claimed. She would look best draped with various gold necklaces, actually. Perhaps some earrings as well.

He brushed a hand through her hair, almost sensing the impending dawn.

The light was beginning to lighten the sky.

Another month and then he would be able to do this again.

He’d end their time together next time with furthering their embrace passed the mere satisfaction of kisses. She would learn more about carnal pleasures when he came around again.

The light was coming in further.

He waited, closing his eyes.

The sun poured over him, warming him with its light.

There was no flash of light. There was no change, no shrinking; he was-

Gilgamesh opened his eyes, staring down at his body drenched in the morning sunlight. He could feel himself blink, taking in the slight heat of that morning sunrise and the sounds of cars passing. His hands shifted against Hakuno’s bedsheets. His lips pressed to her forehead.

_ She broke it. _

His eyes were transfixed on the slumbering woman. His ears ringing with her words from earlier.

_ “True love’s kiss…” _

That and magic…

The feeling bubbled through him, he stood up on his knees, looking himself over and finding that feeling continuing on.

Freed!

_ FREED! _

His laugh rang throughout the room, his excitement burst forth in grabbing the slumbering woman from her bed and spinning her around.

She didn’t even slightly wake from her rest.

_ He would find her a suitable collar! Drag her back to Uruk! _

If they could conquer a curse from the goddess Ishtar, then they could find their way back to Uruk. They would fix what time and fate had done to him.

He held his woman close and amused himself with the way she cuddled against him for his warmth.

She would be doing that a lot more from this point on. 


	13. Rewards of a Questionable Nature

Morning.

Well, no. It was most likely late morning or early afternoon, but that was alright.

A yawn dragged her from a bit of the drowsiness. Her eyes opened to see the curtains parted and the sun rising higher and higher into the skies outside. It seemed to be another peaceful day in her neighborhood, another day in which she would be able to relax and rest up for the upcoming week.

Next month, she would have to try harder to remain awake for Gilgamesh.

He must have been a little put out when she’d fallen asleep so quickly. Not that they’d been doing anything worthwhile, but she’d ended up spending a good portion of the night with her lips sealed to his and…

The room felt much warmer and her body was reacting quite differently with the memory in mind. She squirmed a bit, pressing her hand to her lips quietly.

Thank god, Gilgamesh wasn’t in the room at the moment.

She’d had him become a human being once again and the only thing she could end up doing with the man was letting him press her to her couch and remain in a lip-locked position with her. They’d started basically breathing whatever air came from the other’s lungs. He’d shoved his tongue into her mouth and she’d found that there was nothing she’d rather do than keep him there.

Damn.

She’d been such an idiot.

The goal was to get him home. She needed to get him back to Uruk so she could continue her life without a cat that went werehuman and turned into a human during that oh so special time of the month.

That meant that she really didn’t need to be kissing up on him and building more and more of a relationship with him that she could never persist.

Her eyes drifted to the window again, looking out at the houses across the street. Modern houses: they bore shingles and paneling and all manners of modern day materials. Where Gilgamesh came from… well, she wasn’t sure what kind of homes he had in his kingdom.

They could have been made with little bricks like the pyramids, but he had come before the pyramids, hadn’t he?

Maybe?

Who knew. Maybe he was actually not accustomed to a house that wasn’t made of sticks and mud.

No, they must have used something more.

Hakuno rolled onto her back, staring up at her ceiling.

Her home really wasn’t impressive in any realm of mind, but it had air conditioning and it had heating. Those two things alone made it far more impressive than any of the buildings in Gilgamesh’s time.

Truly, the poorest of homes in this time would beat most of the places in the past. There was a level of safety and advancements that were in this time that would far outmeasure anything from back then, right?

Then again, ancient times had held much more valuables in homes. She’d seen some of the artifacts from Sumer in her books.

Headdresses and stuff; they’d been tacky and bulky, but they’d been made of pure gold and with gems. The people back then…

All she could do was sigh and press an arm over her face.

Asking Gilgamesh about the past would be a waste of time since she would be using time that he needed for resolving his curse and returning to Uruk. It may make him think they were trying to bond and she’d already crossed a line with kissing him last night.

She’d gotten caught up in the emotions of the moment and how close the man had been and allowed herself to be swept up in wrapping her arms around him.

Next time she’d be better.

Next time, she’d have a plan and she would know a few ways they could test him becoming human again. He’d said that Ishtar was known for changing people.

Well, first things first- she’d look into Ishtar.

There’d be something about it on the internet probably. Maybe there was a freak cult she could consult on a purely “curious” manner just to learn more.

Yes!

Gilgamesh would be human permanently soon.

Sitting up, Hakuno found herself pausing.

This nightgown was one she had gotten on a whim a few months back…

Had Gilgamesh changed her after she’d gone to bed?

_Of course he had._

She was going to find the most mundane cat food she still had sitting around the house and feed him that this morning. No human eggs or turkey for-

A rush of water stopped.

It took a second to recognize that the shower had even been on all that time. She could hear footsteps as someone moved around in the other room. A cabinet was opened and closed again, making her pull her sheets around herself and look around.

Gilgamesh.

Weapon.

Door.

She’d call the police when she was safely in the car. They would be able to come and arrest the sick bastard taking a shower in her bathroom after changing her into basically lingerie.

She shifted, noting there weren’t undergarments.

If Gil said this guy touched her, she’d press charges.

“Gil?”

Hakuno hissed his name, moving quietly from the bed.

“Gil?”

The cat must have been near the door in the other room. Maybe down the hall?

She was late feeding him. There was a chance…

The bathroom door opened.

Hakuno, finding herself about halfway to the door to the hallway, found her way blocked by the door opening.

Her eyes met a pair of crimson eyes. A tall, lovingly muscled body with red tattoos met her gaze. Her eyes traveled up, noting small golden hairs on his chest and chin.

H-h-how…

The pounding in her chest was quickening. Her mind was revolving over the sight of the man standing before her.

His lips turned upwards, the flash of a smile forming on his face as he saw her.

“Hakuno.”

There was no way that this was real. She had to be dreaming right now. That meant that she was having one of those odd lucid dreams for once.

Yes, that made much more sense. She was wearing lingerie because she’d been making out with Gilgamesh last night and that had led her mind down into depravity. Her poor soul itself was suffering. What’s more, her mind was outdoing itself with the vision of Gilgamesh naked and in all of his glory.

No halfways with this dream. Her mind had taken one look at the man and said, ‘this man needs to be naked’.

It was impossible for Gilgamesh to be here though.

Entirely impossible.

Still, that wasn’t stopping him from looming over her, his hand outstretched.

“Good morning.”

He was so damn proud of saying that to her. The grin on his face said that he’d no doubt been preparing to say it all this time.

It was highly ‘Gilgamesh-esque’ of her dream to conjure up.

So, naturally, she laughed.

Nothing about this was real and she’d be waking up to find this man sleeping against her chest as a cat so there wasn’t really any harm in laughing right now. She could feel her chest hurting a bit from the laughter, her dream apparently just that lucid for this.

“Is something funny?”

“Sorry,” she wheezed, almost wondering why she was bothering to apologize to a dream Gil. Her eyes flickered up to his once more, her mind running through the options.

Gilgamesh was really something else.

She’d read that he was handsome in her books. What few books even made note of the vanishing king had all described him as some ravishing man that would seduce the most unmovable of people.

He was right there.

Her hand slipped into his, her laughter dying down now. Even as he helped her remain standing on her feet, he seemed to be waiting for her to explain why she’d been laughing before.

Instead, she wrapped her arms up around his neck and shoulders.

He leaned in.

Kissing him in this dream was just as satisfying as kissing him last night. That was probably because she was imagining the same endorphins and adrenaline rush. She could feel him lift her up in his arms, carrying her over to the bed and setting her back against the sheets. His hand was slipping up her nightgown, his lips trailed along from her lips to her neck.

“Your explanation is still wanted, but we will get to that later. You have managed to break Ishtar’s curse, after all. I am… indulgent.”

Her fingers delved into those golden locks of hair of his. Her eyes closed as she felt him sliding her closer to him. His mouth returned to hers. A moan left her lips. Then-

A vibration tore her away from the whole thing. Hakuno stared over at the nightstand a moment, wondering absently why any subconscious would be so cruel.

A phone call? During sex?

“Ignore it,” the man told her.

It could be important though…

Deep psyche messages that tell her good advice or something…

Hakuno pulled away, reaching out and pulling the phone into hand. She frowned as she heard Rin and Cu Chulainn bickering in the background.

_“Hakuno,”_ Rani was on the line. _“Cu and Rin both forgot the homework for their class with you. Do you remember the assignment?”_

…

Well, her subconscious was unoriginal.

_“Hakuno?”_

“Give me a second to get up.” Maybe the meaning was in the assignment in her planner. Hakuno pulled herself to her feet, leaning over the bed a moment to press her lips to Gilgamesh’s own before heading for the living room.

She frowned at the cold flooring.

In fact, she frowned more as she recited the math homework for Rani.

_“Thank you.”_

“Hey, Rani?”

_“Yes.”_

“What day is it?”

The other end of the line went quiet a moment before she could hear the woman laugh quietly. _“Did you stay up late or something? You, Cu Chulainn, and Emiya are going to end up in trouble at the rate you all go. It’s Saturday afternoon. We did message you about this study group, but you said you didn’t want to come, remember?”_

“Right.”

When the hell had she said that?

Rani hung up, leaving her to scroll to her messages and pause.

She’d told them this morning that she wouldn’t be going…

But she was in bed.

She was asleep right now and right now it was…

“Hakuno,” Gilgamesh was coming out of her room now, one of her towels wrapped nicely around his waist. “We need to procure me clothing. I don’t know how your seamstresses work, but bring one to this place and let’s be done with it. Once I have modern attire, we can focus on the second part of this curse: returning us to Uruk.”

“…You’re actually human.”

The man paused, staring at her.

“You’re here.”

The blank look morphed and changed, letting more and more pride and arrogance seem into that face. He moved through the hallway into the living room. He pulled her up into his arms and he simply leaned in close to kiss the ever-loving daylights out of her.

Real.

A part of her felt like it had feared this being real, but it had just been too perfect. What should normally happen in these kinds of stories and situations? What would normally happen in novels? There were no cliché battles and tear stained faces, no evil witches coming along as classmates or suitors, no evil goddess vet coming to snip his balls-

“I am very human,” Gilgamesh assured her, proud as could be about saying that.

“You’re human…”

“And we were doing something before you allowed those fools to steal your reward from you.”

Reward?

Had she been receiving-

They were heading for her bedroom. She could see the intent the moment they began to head through the hallway and her bedroom doorframe started to pass her.

This man was intending to reward her with sex.

_FUCK!_

“No! No! No! No! NO!”

Hakuno grabbed the wooden frame, feeling her nails dig into the wood as she forced the man to stop. She felt a shiver rush through her, her grip holding tight as the man tried to get her into the room.

She could see the headlines now: Lone woman turns her cat into a human and ends up becoming a baby factory.

Or maybe - Lone woman is arrested for having sex with ancient man, ends up killing him when he dies of freak heart attack.

“Gilgamesh! Put me down!”

There was no telling how much his body could take.

She wouldn’t be responsible for this.

“Hakuno, you’re testing my patience. Do not forget that you initiated this.” Those red eyes locked with hers. “You were the one to kiss me.”


	14. Intern and the "Architect"

“I did and I just- You need clothes, remember?”

That excuse sounded so piss poor to her own ears. What the hell was she supposed to do with an excuse like that?

Her fingers released the doorjam, unable to keep a good grip.

Her body slammed against the bed, bouncing a moment before the man was over her person. His hands stole her own away, trapping them over her person. She turned her face, but-

He nuzzled her.

There were a great many things she’d expected when the great ancient king was tossing her onto her own bed. Her mind had gone to the worst possible outcome. She’d been- well, she wasn’t sure what she’d been thinking but it was gone the moment that the man started this rubbing.

Hakuno turned her face, locking confused gaze with surprised and confused returned gaze.

“…Ignore that.”

Gilgamesh pulled back, clearing his throat a bit and pulling away from her. The towel was abandoned, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t been naked in her home before. At least this time, she didn’t have anyone here to think that she was having sex with Gilgamesh this time around.

Instead of that, she was stuck holding a hand to her cheek and staring after the naked idiot.

“Did you nuzzle?”

“It’s nothing.”

It wasn’t though and they both knew that.

Was… was she safe from that kind of thing?

No, her eyes drifted down the king’s person and it was clear that he wasn’t entirely lost to the mood. He just was thrown off kilter from what he’d done before. He was just confused and upset about what had just happened. There was no doubt in her mind that he had wanted to kiss her just now. He’d intended to do more than what he had done.

Actually, it’d been cute.

“Hakuno, the seamstress. Summon one here.”

“Seamstress? What are you talking about?”

Gilgamesh motioned to his person. “None of your attire will fit, woman. I need clothing to wear, unless you intend to have me wandering behind you in this state.”

“Could you stay home?”

He just stared at her.

It was actually kind of fair that he didn’t want to just stay inside the house all day. He would go out of his mind from the boredom and no doubt end up learning how to use the internet to order more things than she could pay for by remaining in her home.

Besides, she did host study sessions in her home. Her friends would end up coming over to find Gilgamesh draped on her couch like some fucked up hotline stripper.

Oh boy, she could already hear the questions really starting. Not to mention, Sakura had a deep love for petting G. She would notice that her cat had vanished with the sudden appearance of Gilgamesh.

“Woman-“

“I need my phone.”

Gilgamesh was starting to talk to her, but she really didn’t have time to listen to him. Not right now. She needed to contact someone who would be about Gilgamesh’s body structure. She needed someone who had the clothing that had enough elastic and stretch that Gilgamesh would be able to get comfortable enough for long enough to go to the stores with her and pick a few clothes.

Oh, but it was going to be one hell of an awkward get together.

If anyone would listen, it would be him, at least.

“Hakuno.”

Her phone was in the living room, sitting on the coffee table as she looked around for it. She was still dialing when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Hak-“

Her hand pressed to the man’s face, watching those red eyes bug out at her audacity.

“Shush.”

That look on the man’s face said that she might as well have gone ahead with informing him that he was fat and ugly while she was at it. Those eyes were spitting fire, his mouth thinner under her fingers than was probably advisable.

_“Hakuno! What’s going on, sleepy head?”_

Ah, he must have been with Rani and the others.

The king’s face said he was hearing that other voice. He was not appreciating it either.

“Cu Chulainn,” Hakuno had to close her eyes. She had to look away from the king or she’d never manage this. “I need a favor.”

_“I’m down two, remember? What’s wrong?”_

Right. He owed her for hanging out with Rin when Rin was in bitch mode. Twice.

“It’s a bit of a complicated story.”

Aka: she really needed a moment to gather her thoughts enough to make up something that would be even remotely possible.

_“Dumb it down, I’m supposed to be shitting in here and the others’ll figure out that I’m having Rin set up a formula sheet for me without realizing it if I spend too long in here.”_

“I have a naked man in my house and I need to borrow a set of clothes so I can take him out to get his own.”

_“Oh…”_ Cu went quiet for a full minute. She could hear the clock nearby ticking away.

The gentle whirr of the heater could be heard as well before a chuckle came forth. Static hit the phone more than noise, with the man on the other end of the line bursting into laughter.

_“A naked… Gods, alright. I don’t even give a shit why. I just want to see what guy you’ve literally ripped the clothes off of and pounded into your mattress. Does he drink?”_

“Cu!”

Gilgamesh was glaring deeply at her as she felt her face heat up.

_“You’re right. Ask him myself. Give me like… twenty minutes? I have a gym bag in my car he can use the clothes from.”_

She was tempted to ask if they were clean, but-

Rin would have killed him for filthy clothes and she really didn’t want to piss off Cu. Upsetting the calmest member of your friend group wasn’t wise.

“See you soon.”

_“Hold on!”_

She held on.

_“I have one, very important question.”_

She was really not having time for that one question but- “Okay, what is it?”

_“Would you go fishing with him for hours on end in a canoe?”_

Her eyes drifted back to Gilgamesh at that question.

Honestly, she’d expected a stupid question about sex or positions or something along those lines. Fishing though…

Cu Chulainn was a fisher.

He was an avid fisher, actually.

Would she go fishing with Gilgamesh?

The man was waiting right now with her hand on his face, glaring at her but not necessarily stopping her from keeping him quiet. He wasn’t grabbing at the phone or touching her in any way that could have ended up making her regret having him in her home.

She’d been fishing before.

It required someone that would listen when things were going on and the important things were at stake. It required someone that wasn’t going to tip the boat over.

“I’d take him.”

_“See ya soon.”_

She hung up, pulling her hand away a moment before the king was heading back into her kitchen.

“Consider my leniency on your actions your reward for breaking half of this curse, Hakuno. Do not silence me again.”

“I was getting you clothes.”

Not that he was the most appreciative about that, but damn.

“I asked for a seamstress. You asked for another man to bring me his clothing.” The man was drinking.

It wasn’t morning. She really didn’t have a complaint in particular to be giving, but there was something wrong about seeing Gilgamesh pouring a glass of wine and drinking naked at her table. His eyes were locked with hers as he drank from his glass.

“There’s no such things as seamstresses that come make clothes at your house,” Hakuno told him simply, turning away and beginning to clean up the living room. “A few things have changed since you were around, Gilgamesh. You’ve seen a bit. We rode in the car together and attended my classes.”

“Audience halls and lessons on proper stories and propaganda was around when I was human before, Hakuno. You’re not unique for attending an old wanderer’s lectures and observational talks.”

“You had classes?”

He rolled his eyes. “We had teachers and we had wandering mentors. None of this gathering in a room and being graded on your memory, although I do see the benefits on a few things.”

His eyes were drifting to her mathbook.

“I will be looking into your tomes later.”

That sounded like a bad plan.

The only thing that could be worse was possibly handing him all the information that he could need to slaughter his enemies and invest for long after his passing.

“You should have something to eat with that.”

He raised a brow, watching her come into the kitchen and start perusing through the cabinets for something to eat.

She didn’t have too much, but a trip to the store could happen after a trip to the mall. Once they had a wardrobe for Gilgamesh, she could bite her tongue and swipe her card one more time to get them both food at the store.

“What are you planning to make?”

“I’m just going to make some toast and some coffee.”

Cu was coming over.

There was no need to go all out.

No, opting not to was the smarter choice in the end. Her toast was stolen, the king settling onto her couch and turning on the television as they waited for the Celt to arrive. His arm wrapped around her when she climbed onto the couch. His face pressed against her hair and, soon enough, there was nothing more that she could do other than be found held tight against the king of old with his musky scent permeating her senses.

This was weird.

Her couch had company. Human company.

She was actually being held in the man’s arms and kept close. His hand was drifting through her hair a bit, massaging at her scalp, although she wasn’t sure if he was aware of what he was doing.

He was naked. She was in-

Right.

Changing clothes was probably the smarter idea.

Just as the thought came to mind, the universe threw her into trouble.

Her doorknob was turning before she could even get up. A familiar head of blue was sticking in, looking around a moment before the man snorted.

“I have the vague impression I shouldn’t linger.”

Hakuno grabbed the extra blanket from behind the couch, bundling in it as the Celt walked over and grinned.

“Yo. I’m Cu Chulainn.”

“I am Ki-“

“This is Gilgamesh King.” Hakuno introduced, interrupting the man before he could go on for thirty years about himself. “I ran into him while he was doing an architect job.”

“No shit?”

Gilgamesh shrugged.

To her surprise, Cu was grabbing one of the dining room chairs, dragging it in and pulling his bag around.

“I kid you not, this is probably the best news I’ve heard all damn week.” The man pulled out a set of paper from his back pocket and laying them out on the table. “I’ve been havin’ Rin look over these, but she hasn’t done anything with construction. I’ve been helping out, doing an internship, right? The building we’re working on ended up having a foundation problem, but we can’t figure out the source of the issue.”

“Cu, I don’t think-“

But Gilgamesh motioned her off, moving for Cu to move forward and looking at the mapping.

“Trees?”

“Marked. There’s nothing close so there wouldn’t be roots or anything like that to deal with.”

“How’s the soil.”

“More fertile than a girlfriend.”

Gilgamesh was a king. He wouldn’t know the first thing about this kind of stuff. Honestly, she was going to end up in deep shit for this.

Still, she found Gilgamesh waving a hand, dismissing her to dress for the day.

“Tell me what’s around the building.”

There went her one ally for this.

They really needed Cu Chulainn to be on their side for this. If someone didn’t like Gil, then she would have to deal with the end result of that. Gilgamesh could go home somehow, but she was going to be left behind with whatever was left. That was why they weren’t high rollin’ and maxing out her cards.

She didn’t spare a single moment, knowing full well that Cu Chulainn would realize the lie she’d tossed his way.

Yet, the man was laughing when she came back.

“So we just need to investigate the ground for water pockets?”

“Those tend to happen in swamp-like areas,” Gilgamesh told him.

“Smart. We didn’t really dig far so that’d make sense.” Cu tossed the gym bag onto the table and headed for the door. “I’m out. I need to talk to my head crew chief about this. Maybe he’ll let me get paid if I figure this out.”

Gilgamesh gave him a wave.

“Hakuno, he seems like a pain the ass. We’re two doomed idiots, aren’t we?”

“Goodbye, mutt,” Gilgamesh bid the man.

The door closed and Hakuno stared over at the man on the couch.

“Believe it or not, Hakuno, I know when alliances are needed.”

Indeed, it seemed that he did.

“So we’re going to go get you clothing?”

The king drained his glass a moment before nodding. “I will change into this peasant garment and we’ll head out.”

She would pray the entire time he was in the bathroom.

The man was a walking billboard for lost in time.


End file.
